Kim Yo Jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, said the American president\u2019s reduction of the drills was \u201cnot even worth commenting on\u201d and Pyongyang found it \u201ccompletely uninteresting\u201d.<\/p>\n
If Washington<\/a> saw the scaling back of the drills \u201cas some kind of goodwill measure,\u201d she said, \u201cthey will not get the answer they desire\u201d.<\/p>\n Ulchi Freedom Shield is one of two major annual exercises conducted by the militaries of South Korea and the US to prepare for a potential conflict with North Korea. <\/p>\n Pyongyang has long denounced the wargames as rehearsals for invasion of North Korea and objected to the presence of American forces on the Korean peninsula.<\/p>\n This week, Mr Trump ordered the Pentagon to scale back Ulchi Freedom Shield, which had begun that very day and could not be cancelled outright. He said the exercise was expensive and sent \u201ca signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” towards a country that was “unthreatening and respectful” during his time as president. The exercise was curtailed from 11 days to five, ending on Friday.<\/a><\/p>\n North Korea only responded on Wednesday night, despite Mr Trump\u2019s push to revive diplomacy. He shared photos with Mr Kim from their summits during his first term as US president and said that he expected to meet the North Korean leader again.<\/p>\n \u201cThe provocative, aggressive nature of the drills won\u2019t change even though their duration and size were reduced,\u201d Ms Kim said.<\/p>\n She rejected Mr Trump’s claim that he was communicating with Mr Kim, saying she was \u201ccompletely unaware\u201d of any such contact. <\/p>\n At the same time, she said Mr Kim retained \u201cfond personal memories and feelings\u201d towards Mr Trump and that relations between the two leaders remained \u201cexcellent\u201d.<\/p>\n Kim Yo Jong (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Mr Trump said he planned to meet Mr Kim later this year. <\/a><\/p>\n “I know Kim Jong Un very well, and he’s going to be fine as long as we\u2019ve a smart president,” the president told reporters at the White House. “The fact that I get along with him, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cHe has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons,” he claimed in an unusual statement about the specific number of weapons held by North Korea. “They should have never allowed it. If I were president, I wouldn’t have allowed it. But he’s got them.”<\/p>\n Mr Trump and Mr Kim met three times during the US president\u2019s first term, in Singapore, Hanoi and at the inter-Korean border. <\/p>\n The first summit produced a joint commitment to work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula but the second summit in Hanoi ended abruptly without an agreement after the two sides failed to resolve differences over sanctions relief and North Korea\u2019s nuclear programme. They briefly revived engagement at the border in June 2019 and agreed to resume working-level talks, but those negotiations later stalled. <\/p>\n North Korea has since formed a strategic defence alliance with Russia under which Pyongyang has expanded its conventional arsenal and helped Vladimir Putin in his war against Ukraine by sending troops and weaponry. Pyongyang has also deepened relations with China.<\/p>\n Ms Kim referenced Russia five times in her statement and said North Korea \u201cfully supports the just actions\u201d of Moscow in Ukraine. <\/p>\n She said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky\u2019s claim that Pyongyang was sending another 50,000 soldiers to aid Russia\u2019s war effort <\/a>were \u201centirely baseless\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"Kim](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/a8715aeb-0dd1-4d9f-a30b-d4762de44962.jpg\"\/)
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![\"North](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/9e5a3bc5-78e8-450a-9402-d50d109da43e.jpg\"\/)
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