Trump orders Pentagon to scale back joint exercises with South Korea

NEW: President Trump has ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea, saying the drills are costly and 'hostile' to North Korea, after Seoul declined to help denuclearise Iran.

Trump just ordered the Pentagon to shrink its war games with South Korea.

The drills start this week, eleven days, eighteen thousand South Korean troops, and you can see the kind of thing we're talking about here, amphibious landings, live fire, the full alliance playbook. Trump says they're too expensive and, his word, hostile to North Korea, which he insists has been unthreatening and respectful while he's been in office.

But listen to the stated reason. He asked Seoul to help denuclearise Iran, and by his own account they said, no thanks. So an ally gets its defence drills cut over a dispute about a completely different country. Pete Hegseth now has orders to substantially reduce exercises the Pentagon itself calls the linchpin of regional security.

And a day earlier, Trump posted a photo of himself with Kim Jong Un, saying they get along great. Pyongyang called these drills a rehearsal for war on Friday. Tonight, Washington blinked first.

This is Angel Manalo, reporting for HIT.

Source Read the original reporting at cnbc.com