Donald Trump says of a past photo with Kim Jong Un: "Kim Jong Un and I get along GREAT!"

Donald Trump used Truth Social on Saturday to share a past photo of himself with Kim Jong Un, joking that their stern facial expressions in that image do not reflect the excellent relationship he says the two have. The post coincided with the scheduled Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, a joint US-South Korea drill running August 17–27 that North Korea has long called a provocation. A North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson claimed Friday that growing cooperation among Washington, Tokyo, and Seoul is becoming a nuclear-oriented alliance and vowed to meet elevated threats with elevated deterrents. Separately, South Korea’s military reported a suspected North Korean ballistic missile launch on August 12, the second in under a week; the United States referred to it only as a missile launch.