U.S. military drills with South Korea are cut short after surprise Trump order

The annual U.S.-South Korea drills, known as Ulchi Freedom Shield, will end Aug. 21 rather than Aug. 27 as originally scheduled, both countries said.

Joint military exercises underway between the United States and South Korea are being cut short, both countries said, after President Donald Trump ordered that they be reduced and cited his “very good” relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The surprise announcement drew suggestions that Trump may want to revive his bid to strike a grand bargain with Kim over his isolated regime’s nuclear arsenal.

Trump is open to a new meeting with Kim at the “appropriate time,” a White House official told NBC News, but no date has been set and no formal planning has started on a potential visit.

The president is expected to travel to Asia this fall to attend several summits, including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering in Shenzhen, China, in November, but it’s unclear whether any possible meeting would be set up around that timeframe.

Trump, who met with Kim three times during his first term in office, has mused publicly about resuming their earlier diplomacy, which collapsed in 2019. The Wall Street Journal was first to report the possible Kim meeting.