South Korea hoping for talks after Trump reduces joint military exercises
The Hill · C · trust 35/100
Comments: by Ashleigh Fields - 08/17/26 11:26 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Ashleigh Fields - 08/17/26 11:26 AM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING South Korea is hoping to engage in talks with the Trump administration following the president’s announcement Sunday that he is ordering a reduction in U.S. troop participation in joint military exercises with soldiers in Seoul.
South Korea’s presidential Blue House said it “hopes that the friendly relationship between the U.S. and North Korean leaders will lead to meaningful dialogue between the two countries, opening discussions aimed at advancing peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” in a statement obtained by Reuters .
Democratic lawmakers decried efforts to pull back U.S. military engagement in the joint exercises, which are called Ulchi Freedom Shield .
The exercises began Monday and are expected to continue until Aug. 27 with a focus on modern warfare and cyberattacks.
However, President Trump has said the activities come across as unnecessarily hostile toward North Korea, which he noted has not been threatening during his administration.
“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,” Trump wrote in a Sunday afternoon Truth Social post .
“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,” he added, right before noting Seoul’s decision not to intervene in the Iran war.
Officials in Seoul said they were “actively participating” in international discussions surrounding a renewed push for a ceasefire in Iran and talks to help ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, according to reports from The Asia Business Daily .
“The government is paying close attention to President Trump’s social media message,” a South Korean official told the outlet.
“We will make every diplomatic effort as a pace-setter under close cooperation between South Korea and the United States,” the official added.
Over the weekend, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung also shared his hopes to hold talks with North Korea in an effort to formally end the decades-long conflict between the two countries.
The active fighting of the Korean War ended on July 27, 1953, with the Korean Armistice Agreement , but a formal peace treaty was never signed. Because of this, the Korean Peninsula remains technically in a state of war.
“We must strive to achieve a state of peaceful coexistence that is stable and lacks any grounds for confrontation. We will institute mechanisms for managing tensions and conflicts, along with multiple safeguards for preventing crises and escalation,” Lee said in public remarks broadcast over the weekend.
“We will embark on a journey to end war and transform the Korean Peninsula’s unstable armistice into a peace regime. Let’s drop all intentions of threatening one another and initiate dialogue among directly concerned parties in order to conclude this long war,” he added.
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