PBS reports President Donald Trump directed Pentagon to scale back South Korea joint exercises, citing cost and North Korea indicating

President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to scale back planned joint military exercises with South Korea scheduled to begin this week, PBS NewsHour reported on Monday, citing a Trump social media post. PBS said Trump characterized the drills as costly and said they would send “a report that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea.

In the same post, PBS reported that Trump asserted North Korea had been “unthreatening and respectful” while he has been in the White House. PBS framed the change in terms of messaging toward Pyongyang and the budgetary impact of the exercises, but it did not provide additional official documentation within the material provided.

A White House or Federal Register record confirming the direction described by PBS was not included in the provided evidence. Under the editing requirements for this desk, Apex cannot state that the Pentagon action is definitively confirmed by an official proclamation, memorandum, or order unless a White House or Federal Register source appears in the supporting record.

The practical effect of scaling back joint exercises would depend on how much the Pentagon reduces, including which phases are shortened or canceled, the scale of participating forces, and how quickly planning changes can be implemented for troops already scheduled to deploy. Those details were not contained in the provided packet, so the scope of any reduction cannot be specified beyond the report that the exercises would be scaled back.

Military training cycles and combined exercise schedules typically involve multiple services and operational commands, so changes may require coordination with South Korean counterparts and internal adjustments to readiness and logistics timelines. PBS did not identify the specific exercises affected by name or which agencies or commands carried out the adjustment.

If the reported direction proceeds, the episode is also likely to raise questions about civilian control of the military and the executive branch’s authority over defense planning and routine readiness activities. Any lasting policy shift would generally be expected to show up through official defense guidance or other primary records, which were not identified here.

Next steps, based on the record available for this story, would be verification of the Pentagon decision through additional primary sources such as White House statements, Defense Department announcements, or any related Federal Register publication, if applicable. Until such confirmation is found in official records, the description of the order remains attributed to PBS and to Trump’s social media statement as reported by PBS.