CNA explains why Trump is pushing to meet Kim Jong Un again.

SINGAPORE, 22 AUGUST 2026 —

US President Donald Trump scaled back joint military exercises with key ally South Korea this week, while signalling plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year.

This year's 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield drills - designed to strengthen the allies’ ability to respond to North Korea’s evolving military capabilities – were shortened to five days. Trump cited his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as well as South Korea’s refusal to support the US in its conflict with Iran.

The move came as Trump renewed his push to meet Kim, saying he would meet the North Korean leader later this year. North Korea has long demanded an end to the drills, but has shown little enthusiasm for Trump's overture.

CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less So is Trump using the exercises as a bargaining chip, what does he want from Pyongyang - and does North Korea even need another summit with the US president?

Trump has suggested that South Korea’s refusal to help the US in its conflict with Iran was one reason for scaling back the drills. “We have 39,000 soldiers over there, guarding you from Kim Jong Un, your next-door neighbour, and you're not going to help us on a very easy military operation in Iran. That's strange,” he told reporters.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said on Wednesday that Trump was trying to pressure Seoul on several issues, including its investments in the US. "I think President Trump's message includes pressure over several pending issues concerning the South Korean government, as well as a message to North Korea and an intention by the US to break a stalemate in the Iran war," Cho said. But analysts said there could be broader calculations at play.

A renewed opening with North Korea could give the president a foreign policy success at a time when his efforts to resolve the conflict with Iran have stalled. “Trump's foreign policy track record during this second term has either been lacklustre or unsuccessful,” Dr Nah Liang Tuang, a research fellow at S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), told CNA.

“I suspect that he's trying to create an opening for diplomacy with North Korea so that he will hopefully have some foreign policy success before the November mid-term elections.” Trump and Kim met three times during his first term, including at a historic summit in Singapore in 2018. He also became the first sitting US president to enter North Korea when he met Kim at the Demilitarised Zone in 2019.

Their nuclear diplomacy eventually broke down, but Trump has continued to speak warmly about Kim. “Trump has been clear about his desire to meet Kim again, and the scaling down of the (joint military exercise) is the latest signal,” said Dr Victor Cha, Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

“What’s different this time is that it is a concrete action rather than just words and social media posts.” In some ways, Trump's move resembles his approach in 2018. After his first summit with Kim, Trump suspended major US-South Korea military exercises, arguing that they were expensive and provocative - similar reasons he has given for reducing the drills this time.

North Korea has long demanded an end to such exercises, describing them as preparations for an invasion. That makes military drills a potentially useful bargaining chip for Washington if Trump wants to bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table. Another possible reason Trump wants to engage Kim is to pull him away from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

North Korea has developed much closer military ties with Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine, providing weapons and troops for the war. But Dr Cha also suggested that Trump could simply be trying to change the political conversation. “Trump may (also) want to change the headlines from Iran to something else,” he said. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has separately been pushing for improved relations with the North.

Just two days before Trump’s announcement, he proposed talks with Pyongyang to replace the Korean War armistice with a formal peace arrangement. The 1950-1953 war ended with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty, meaning the two Koreas remain technically at war. That creates an overlap between the priorities of Trump and Lee. Both have expressed an interest in reducing tensions and opening dialogue with North Korea.

Dr Jaehan Park, assistant professor at RSIS, said Seoul might have signalled to Washington that it was willing to play a role in helping restart US-North Korea diplomacy. “I don’t think it is too off the mark to speculate that the Lee administration might have had some say in Mr Trump’s decision to scale down the military drill and … subsequent comments as to the possibility of meeting with Mr Kim,” he said.

But this should not be taken to mean Seoul and Washington coordinated the decision to scale back the joint drills. South Korea's foreign minister said the government was not informed in advance of Trump's plan to reduce the exercises. Washington could have made the decision independently after hearing that Seoul was prepared to play a role, Dr Park suggested. There is another issue that could bring Seoul's interests closer to Trump's.

Lee has pushed for South Korea to gain greater independent control over its military. Under the current arrangement, South Korea has peacetime operational control of its forces, while the US would assume wartime operational control if conflict breaks out.

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