Trump Cuts US-South Korea Drills, Citing Good Ties With North Korea’s Leader Despite Christian Persecution (Worthy News In-Depth)

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON/PYONGYANG (Worthy News) – U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced Sunday that he had ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” military exercises with key regional ally South Korea, citing his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Seoul’s refusal to assist Washington in its confrontation with Iran.

The move underscored Trump’s renewed emphasis on personal diplomacy with Kim despite longstanding concerns about North Korea’s human rights record, including the plight of Christians and other religious believers under the communist government.

“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 his Truth Social platform.

“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.

MAJOR MILITARY DRILLS

Trump said it was too late to cancel the exercises entirely and that he had therefore instructed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” them.

The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, scheduled for August 17-27, involve about 18,000 South Korean troops and are intended to strengthen readiness against threats from nuclear-armed North Korea.

This year’s exercises were expected to include operations aimed at countering drones, GPS interference and cyberattacks as Washington and Seoul adapt to North Korea’s evolving military capabilities.

Pyongyang has repeatedly condemned the exercises as rehearsals for an invasion and warned last week of strong countermeasures. North Korea also recently fired ballistic missiles toward the sea ahead of the drills.

IRAN DISPUTE

U.S. and South Korean officials have defended the exercises as defensive and crucial for maintaining the readiness of their decades-old alliance, particularly as North Korea continues developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

Trump also linked his decision to Seoul’s refusal to participate in U.S. actions involving Iran.

“While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!’” Trump wrote.

“Therefore, and 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!” the president added.

SOUTH KOREAN PEACE OFFER

The decision came shortly after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung extended another diplomatic overture toward North Korea, calling for talks aimed at replacing the armistice that halted the 1950-53 Korean War with a permanent peace arrangement.

Because the conflict ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, North and South Korea technically remain at war more than seven decades later.

Lee has advocated peaceful coexistence and renewed dialogue, including efforts to reduce military tensions and address North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

Yet Kim has not extended a similar olive branch. His government has rejected Seoul’s dialogue overtures, increasingly portrayed South Korea as a hostile state and strengthened military cooperation with Russia.

RUSSIA MILITARY TIES

North Korea has provided troops and weapons to support Moscow’s war against Ukraine, giving its forces battlefield experience that U.S. and South Korean military officials have warned could further improve Pyongyang’s military capabilities.

Trump’s description of North Korea as “unthreatening and respectful” also comes despite longstanding international concerns about the Kim government’s human rights record, including its treatment of Christians.

Christian advocacy group Open Doors ranks North Korea as the world’s most dangerous country in which to be a Christian on its 2026 World Watch List.

Open Doors says Christians discovered practicing their faith can face imprisonment in notorious labor camps or execution, with relatives also potentially facing punishment.

CHRISTIANS UNDERGROUND

Christianity is viewed as particularly threatening by the communist government because loyalty to God challenges the personality cult surrounding the ruling Kim family, Christian rights investigators say.

Despite the dangers, an underground Christian community continues to worship secretly, reportedly relying on whispered prayers, memorized Scripture and clandestine gatherings among trusted relatives and friends.

North Korea’s 2020 “anti-reactionary thought” legislation further strengthened restrictions on outside cultural and religious influences, while possession of a Bible can result in severe punishment, according to Christian rights investigators.

American evangelist Franklin Graham has nevertheless expressed hope over the years that engagement between Washington and Pyongyang could eventually improve conditions for Christians.

GRAHAM FAMILY HISTORY

His family has an unusual history with North Korea. His father, evangelist Billy Graham, visited the country in 1992 and 1994 and met North Korea’s founding leader Kim Il Sung.

Billy Graham also addressed students and faculty at Kim Il Sung University and spoke publicly about the Christian faith during a period when few prominent Western religious leaders had access to the isolated communist nation.

His wife, Ruth Bell Graham, who attended school in Pyongyang during the 1930s, returned in 1997 and spoke at the capital’s Bongsu Church, telling worshippers: “I pray that each one of you will know, as I discovered during my school days here, that God so loved you, that he gave his only begotten Son, that if you would believe in him, you will not perish, but will have everlasting life.”

Franklin Graham later made several humanitarian visits to North Korea through the Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse and urged Trump during his earlier presidency to pursue engagement with Pyongyang.

TRUMP RAISED CHRISTIANS

Trump has said he personally raised the persecution of Christians with Kim while discussing nuclear weapons and other issues during their historic diplomacy.

Following their first summit in Singapore in June 2018, Trump was specifically asked whether he had raised the plight of Christians with the North Korean leader.

“I brought it up, absolutely,” Trump responded, before adding: “Christians, yes, we brought it up very strongly.”

Trump also referred to Franklin Graham’s longstanding involvement with North Korea, saying Graham had the issue “very close to his heart” and adding: “It did come up, and things will be happening.”

LITTLE CHANGE REPORTED

Yet nearly eight years later, there is little evidence that Kim’s government has fulfilled those expectations.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has said religious freedom remains virtually nonexistent in North Korea, where Christians and other religious believers can face severe punishment for practicing their faith.

Trump’s decision to scale back the military exercises could therefore become an early test of whether his personal diplomacy with Kim can reopen stalled negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear weapons, reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula and improve the plight of persecuted Christians—or whether Pyongyang will accept the military concession without offering comparable steps toward peace.

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