North Korea shrugs off Trump's scaled-back drills with South Korea

In the United States on 20 August 2026, North Korea shrugged off Trump's scaled-back drills with South Korea, saying it changes nothing, the Associated Press reported. Trump said he will meet Kim Jong Un later this year and said Kim has 57 nuclear weapons, according to KBS World.

Breitbart reported that Kim's sister mocked South Korea and confirmed that her brother's relationship with Trump is 'excellent'. The BBC wrote that South Korea could pay the price of Trump's friendship with Kim, and the Financial Times wrote that his South Korea defence decision reminds Japan that it has no Plan B. Die Zeit reported that South Korea supports Trump's efforts to hold talks with North Korea.