According to CoinMeta, Xavier Brunson, the commander of U.S. forces in South Korea, visited the South Korean Ministry of National Defense on that day to discuss reducing the scale of joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea. The U.S. and South Korean forces are scheduled to conduct the large-scale joint exercise "Ulsan Freedom Shield" from the 17th to the 27th. On the 16th, Trump posted on social media stating that he had requested the U.S. Department of Defense to significantly reduce the scale of these joint exercises.