President Donald Trump’s sudden announcement the US is scaling back major military drills with South Korea risks renewing concerns US forces are too stretched to support crucial Western allies or maintain deterrence against autocracies that threaten them.

It’s also a gift to North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un at a time when he has ramped up his own nation’s threat to global stability –– and offered no concessions in return.

Just as the 10-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises involving tens of thousands of troops were set to begin, Trump said he had ordered the war games scaled back because North Korea has been “unthreatening and respectful” to his administration.

“These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile,” Trump posted on Truth Social over the weekend.

Trump’s statement is hard to reconcile with Kim’s actions.

The North Korean leader has significantly built up his nation’s armed forces and illegal nuclear weapons program during the past several years, even sending his soldiers to get real-world combat experience on the battlefields of Ukraine and providing Moscow with missiles that have killed Ukrainian civilians.

That help for Russia now comes with a mutual defense treaty inked two years ago with Vladimir Putin. Kim also solidified a three-way partnership with Russia and China almost a year ago in Beijing, as the three autocrats put on a very public show watching some of China’s most modern military hardware roll through Beijing in a World War II victory 80th anniversary celebration.

All the while, North Korea has been upgrading its arsenal, and Kim is frequently portrayed in state media, flanked by his teenage daughter and likely successor, overseeing military milestones –– like the activation earlier this year of a new guided-missile destroyer.

Meanwhile, in a world where the Trump administration has frequently complained about allies, especially those in Europe, not sharing in the cost of their own defense, as recently as late May it was holding up South Korea as its ideal ally.

“If you want to see what burden sharing looks like, consider the Republic of Korea. South Korea has invested consistently in its own defense, … because it does not have the luxury of treating war like an academic exercise. They live on the front lines, and so they build real combat power,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegesth said in a speech to the Shangri La Dialogue defense conference in Singapore.