(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in paras 6-12)

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he has instructed the Pentagon chief to "substantially" reduce joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises, noting that those exercises are not only "costly" but also send a "totally inappropriate and hostile" signal to North Korea.

Trump made the remarks in a social media post as Seoul and Washington are set to kick off their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise this week, which Pyongyang has long decried as war rehearsals.

"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 on Truth Social, referring to the North Korean leader.

"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.

Trump then noted, "Based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!"

It marked the first time in his second term that he had ordered a scaling back of military drills with South Korea. During his first term, the allies suspended or scaled down joint exercises, with Trump calling them "provocative, inappropriate and expensive."

The instruction came as Pyongyang has ratcheted up tensions ahead of the annual allied exercise by conducting missile launches this month.

The move can be seen as a conciliatory gesture to the North as the White House has repeatedly said that Trump remains open to dialogue with the North "without any preconditions."

It remains uncertain whether Pyongyang would be willing to come forward for talks with Washington amid deepening economic, diplomatic and military cooperation with Moscow and its efforts to reinforce ties with Beijing.

On Saturday, Trump posted a photo of him meeting the North Korean leader in the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in 2019 on social media, repeating his claim that he and Kim "get along great."

The posting reinforced speculation about Trump's apparent desire to rekindle personal diplomacy with Kim. In June, Trump also posted on Truth Social a photo of the leaders' first meeting in Singapore in 2018.

Trump had three in-person meetings with Kim during his first term: the first meeting in Singapore in June 2018, the second in Hanoi in February 2019 and then the Panmunjom meeting in June 2019.

In Sunday's posting, Trump also said that he had recently asked South Korean President Lee Jae Myung whether Seoul would like to join the effort to denuclearize Iran, and was told, "No thanks." He did not elaborate further.

sshluck@yna.co.kr

(END)

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