Trump gushes over dictator Kim Jong Un and orders US to scale back military drills with South Korea: ‘Get along great!’

Donald Trump said he is scaling back joint military drills with South Korea hours before they were due to start, citing his “very good” relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un .

The 11-day joint drills between South Korea and the US military start on Monday.

The Ulchi Freedom Shield is one of the two major annual exercises between the two allies.

The war games were expected to involve about 18,000 South Korean troops alongside US forces and 12 of the 18 member states of the United Nations Command (UNC), a multinational military force formed after the Korean War to oversee the 1953 armistice.

Mr Trump also said he had asked South Korea if it would join the US efforts in the denuclearisation of Iran, but Seoul declined.

In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Mr Trump said while it was too late to cancel the exercises he has instructed secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, to “substantially reduce” the joint exercises.

“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,” Mr Trump wrote.

“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.

“While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the denuclearisation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!’”

South Kore’'s defence ministry said it was proceeding as “previously notified and scheduled” with the annual exercise.

On Saturday, Mr Trump posted a picture of him and Mr Kim taken during the US leader’s visit to North Korea in 2019.

He said: “Despite the unfriendly look on this particular picture, there are many where we’re smiling, Kim Jong Un and I get along GREAT!”

The picture sparked speculation over Mr Trump’s attempt to have a fourth summit with Mr Kim or renew diplomacy.

However, Pyongyang has not reciprocated with similar outreach efforts amid its deepening economic, diplomatic, and military cooperation with Russia, as well as ties with China.