US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that his administration will "substantially reduce" the joint military exercises it conducts with South Korea, in a Truth Social post that combined veiled criticism of Seoul with praise for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump argued the drills are not only costly for the United States but also send a "hostile" signal to a country he described as peaceful since he took office.

According to Trump, the trigger was Seoul's recent refusal to join a US-led push for Iran's "denuclearization." Trump said he had personally asked South Korea's president whether the country wanted to participate, and received a flat "no."

Despite the announcement, Trump acknowledged it was "too late to cancel" the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, set to begin Monday with roughly 18,000 South Korean troops over 11 days. Instead, he said he would ask Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to scale it down substantially. Last week, military commanders from both countries confirmed the drill would remain similar in scope to previous years, citing the return of North Korean troops that fought alongside Russia in Ukraine as a factor shaping this year's training.

The announcement comes amid heightened tension: North Korea conducted UN-banned ballistic missile tests this month, and this week South Korea, the United States and Japan detected a second launch within days. Pyongyang has ramped up its nuclear and missile programs since high-level diplomacy between Trump and Kim collapsed in 2019, when Trump became the first sitting US president to set foot on North Korean soil.