North Korea dismisses Trump’s outreach as insufficient, fires missiles after U.S.-South Korea drills are cut
North Korea rejected President Trump’s claim of contact with Kim Jong Un and launched short-range missiles after the United States and South Korea shortened joint drills, raising concerns in Seoul about being sidelined in any future talks.
North Korea rebuffed President Donald Trump’s apparent attempt to re-engage diplomatically, launching about a dozen short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea after the United States and South Korea ended their annual joint exercises six days early. In a state-media statement, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called the scaling back of the drills “unworthy of comment” and maintained that the exercises remain “provocative and offensive.”
Trump posted on social media that he ordered the drills shortened because they are costly and send a hostile message, and later said he had reached out to Kim for a meeting and received a positive response. Kim Yo Jong said she was unaware of any such contact, though she described the relationship between the two leaders as “excellent.”
Political scientist Kuyoun Chung said the remarks suggest Pyongyang is “raising the price of re-engagement” rather than closing the door to a summit. Since Trump returned to office, North Korea has repeatedly demanded recognition of its nuclear status as a precondition for talks, a request Washington has declined to avoid abandoning its denuclearisation policy and UN resolutions.
South Korean officials expressed alarm that the United States might pursue a summit with the North while marginalising Seoul. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told lawmakers he would work to keep the alliance strong after Trump’s surprise order, noting that the decision also aimed to pressure South Korea on a $350 billion investment request. Analysts warned that using security exercises as leverage on unrelated issues could erode political trust, a trend reflected in a recent poll showing roughly half of South Koreans view the United States as untrustworthy.
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, pledged to promote peace on the peninsula but said the United States and North Korea should handle any summit themselves, urging Washington to drop its hostile policies toward the North.