Singapore summit exercise suspension (2018)
After meeting Kim Jong Un in Singapore, Trump called joint drills provocative and costly. Defense Secretary James Mattis suspended the Freedom Guardian exercise and two Marine training events.
Major exercises paused as the U.S. and North Korea pursued talks. Pyongyang held off on nuclear and long-range missile tests for a time.
Talks collapsed after the 2019 Hanoi summit. Drills gradually resumed, though often at reduced scale, and North Korea returned to testing.
It is the direct model for the 2026 order: same rationale, same leader, same tradeoff between diplomacy and readiness.
