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U.S. President Donald Trump has instructed the Pentagon to "substantially reduce" joint military exercises with long-term Asian ally South Korea, citing the cost of the drills and Seoul's refusal to take part in actions against Iran.
Hours before exercises were scheduled to begin, Trump said on his Truth Social site he was "not happy" that the U.S. had agreed to participate and highlighted his "very good relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
"These exercises are not only costly... 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," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercises are scheduled to run until August 27, with about 18,000 South Korean military personnel participating, according to Reuters.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff told Reuters the drills started on Monday as scheduled, but declined comment on Trump's remarks.
North Korea, still technically at war with the South, routinely denounces the U.S.-South Korean exercises as preparations for an invasion.
Pyongyang last week fired a ballistic missile from its eastern coast towards the Sea of Japan, the South Korean and Japanese militaries said, days after a similar North Korean short-range ballistic missile launch.