00:00U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon on Sunday to scale back annual joint military
00:06exercises with South Korea, citing Seoul's refusal to help with the war against Iran
00:11and his quote, very good relationship with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un.
00:16The 11 days of exercises involving 18,000 South Korean soldiers were designed to beef
00:22up readiness against North Korean threats.
00:24The exercises are one of two main combined drills conducted by the South Korean and U.S.
00:30militaries annually, along with their springtime training.
00:33Trump lambasted the drills as costly and quote, totally inappropriate and hostile to Pyongyang,
00:39which he said has been unthreatening and respectful during the course of his presidencies.
00:44The Republican president also indicated that he had wanted to back out of the trainings
00:49altogether, but signaled that it was too late to do so.
00:52Trump noted that South Korea's President Lee Jae-myung replied no thanks to Washington's
00:58request for Seoul to join its war efforts to quote, denuclearize Iran, though he labeled
01:03it as somewhat unrelated to the new measure.
01:06The move is a sharp turnaround from how his administration has viewed South Korea in recent
01:11months, with Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth in May praising the longtime ally for its commitment
01:17to increasing defense spending.
01:19Trump has also previously sought to end the exercises in his first term following a meeting
01:24with Kim Jong-un in Singapore in 2018, calling the drills provocative back then.
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