This isn’t the primary time that Donald Trump has sought to finish the workouts. Throughout his first time period, he additionally issued a shock announcement that known as the wargames “provocative”.
| Picture Credit score: AP
U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon on Sunday (August 16, 2026) to cut back deliberate joint navy workouts with South Korea after he mentioned South Korea declined to assist denuclearise Iran.
Mr. Trump mentioned in a social media put up that the workouts slated to start this week are expensive and “ship a sign that’s completely inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, which he mentioned “has been unthreatening and respectful” whereas Mr. Trump has been within the White Home.
“Due to this fact, and based mostly on the truth that it’s too late to cancel, I’ve instructed Secretary of Warfare Pete Hegseth to considerably scale back the Joint Navy Workout routines!” Mr. Trump wrote.
The deliberate 11-day workouts involving 18,000 South Korean troopers have been designed to beef up readiness towards North Korean threats.
U.S. and South Korean forces have been anticipated to practise joint operations in complicated situations, together with a live-fire train to check joint precision concentrating on and manoeuvre, a moist hole crossing, and distribution of prepositioned navy tools, based on the U.S. navy.
A day earlier, Mr. Trump posted a photograph of himself standing subsequent to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, writing that the 2 leaders get alongside nice “regardless of the unfriendly look on this explicit image”.
North Korea’s International Ministry has known as the U.S.-South Korean coaching “a rehearsal for an aggressive warfare” that’s triggering a unique degree of instability within the area.
Mr. Trump met with the reclusive North Korean chief thrice throughout his first time period to debate the nation’s nuclear programme, most lately in 2019. Since returning to workplace, Trump has expressed curiosity in persevering with these discussions.
This isn’t the primary time that Mr. Trump has sought to finish the workouts. Throughout his first time period, he additionally issued a shock announcement that known as the wargames “provocative”.
“We can be stopping the warfare video games, which is able to save us an incredible amount of cash, except and till we see the long run negotiation just isn’t going alongside prefer it ought to,” Mr. Trump informed reporters after his 2018 assembly with Kim Jong Un in Singapore.
Revealed – August 17, 2026 03:52 am IST
