President Donald Trump shared a meme of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after directing the Pentagon to reduce planned military exercises with South Korea, citing his relationship with Kim and arguing that full-scale drills would send the wrong signal to Pyongyang.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump shared a meme featuring North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Monday, one day after announcing that upcoming U.S.-South Korea military exercises would be substantially reduced.
The image posted by Trump on Truth Social shows Kim surrounded by military officials while speaking on a telephone. The caption reads, “hey Donald, we cool… right?”
Trump’s post followed his weekend decision to direct Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to scale back the planned joint exercises between the United States and South Korea.
The president said the decision was influenced by his “very good relationship with Kim Jong Un” and his belief that proceeding with the exercises at their originally planned scale would send an unnecessarily hostile message to North Korea.
Trump has characterized Pyongyang as “unthreatening and respectful” during his time in office, despite North Korea launching a ballistic missile last week.
The president also introduced South Korea’s position on the continuing Iran war into his explanation for reducing the exercises, although he acknowledged the two matters were not necessarily connected.
“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 said.
Trump did not elaborate on how South Korea’s refusal to participate in the U.S. effort involving Iran factored into his decision regarding military exercises on the Korean Peninsula.
His primary explanation remained centered on his relationship with Kim and his view that large-scale joint exercises could undermine efforts to maintain a less confrontational relationship with North Korea.
The meme posted Monday reinforced that diplomatic message in a deliberately informal way, depicting Kim as personally checking whether relations with Trump remained intact.
The decision to reduce the exercises came even as North Korea demonstrated its ballistic missile capabilities days earlier.
Trump nevertheless maintained that Pyongyang’s broader conduct toward his administration had been respectful and said continuing the exercises at full scale would send the wrong signal.
The move marks another instance in which Trump has linked U.S. military posture on the Korean Peninsula to his personal diplomacy with Kim, while also signaling dissatisfaction with Seoul’s unwillingness to support Washington in its separate confrontation with Iran.
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