President Trump Orders Military to MASSIVELY Reduce Military Exercises With South Korea

JUST IN: President Trump has ORDERED Secretary Hegseth to DRAMATICALLY scale back joint military operations with South Korea, touting his "very good friendship" with Kim Jung Un

"These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of… pic.twitter.com/nCb88R5etD

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) August 16, 2026

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Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea. These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful. Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises! While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, “No thanks!” Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

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It was not immediately clear what a scaled-down version of the training, set to start Monday only hours after Trump’s announcement, would look like.

South Korea’s embassy in Washington and U.S. Forces Korea, a sub-unified command tasked with carrying out the exercises, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The command was set to carry out the Ulchi Freedom Shield training Monday, which would include 18,000 South Korean soldiers, the South Korean military told The Associated Press. The exercises are meant to build understanding among several agencies to ensure “their ability to fortify the combined defense posture and enhance Alliance response capabilities against a spectrum of security threats.” North Korea last week called the drills a “war rehearsal” and threatened to retaliate.

Trump’s announcement comes days after North Korea launched a ballistic missile toward the sea, conducting weapons testing in possible protest of the upcoming U.S.-South Korea military drills.

It also comes a day after the U.S. pulled its last aircraft carrier in Asia, as the USS George Washington was sent to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln — which has drawn scrutiny over conditions on board — in the Persian Gulf.

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• In 2018, the Pentagon estimated that the canceled Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise (a major annual event involving tens of thousands of troops, largely computer-assisted simulations plus some field training) would have cost the U.S. about $14 million. Officials provided no detailed breakdown of what was included. This was described as a tiny fraction of the overall defense budget.
• There are typically multiple joint exercises or series of drills each year (field training at various levels, simulations, etc.). Even accounting for several, the incremental U.S. cost for the exercises proper appears to remain in the low tens of millions based on the available official data point and the nature of reporting.
• South Korean media and military sources around the same period estimated total joint training costs at roughly 700–800 billion won per year (~$600–700 million USD at then-prevailing rates), with the U.S. covering the large majority (mostly tied to deploying/operating strategic assets like bombers, carriers, or advanced aircraft). These higher figures appear to incorporate operational costs of high-end platforms rather than just the exercise overhead itself and are not corroborated by U.S. official tallies. South Korea’s own direct spending on the joint exercises has been reported as very modest (e.g., a cumulative ~10.2 billion won / ~$8.5 million across several years in the late 2010s).

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NOW: CNN is throwing a FIT after President Trump is decreasing expensive war games with South Korea, which he is doing to ease tensions with North Korea

47 wants peace, let him cook!

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— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 16, 2026

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