South Korea shortens war games with US citing Washington request
It comes after Trump announced plans to curtail joint exercises with South Korea, citing a "very good" relationship with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
South Korea's defense ministry has announced that its yearly joint military exercises with the United States will be shortened by six days, a decision made at Washington's request.
Seoul stated that the "period and scale" of the 2026 Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise have been modified following a "proposal of the US side." The drill is now scheduled to conclude on August 21, instead of the previously planned August 27. This adjustment follows Donald Trump's announcement of his intention to reduce exercises with South Korea, citing his "very good" relationship with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun informed a parliamentary hearing that neither South Korean nor US officials had prior knowledge of Trump's plans. Seoul also indicated that the combined field training exercise component of the drills would be "partially reduced in scale," with "specific details" of this reduction still under discussion.
This announcement comes after US officials informed the Wall Street Journal that Trump is pressing his aides for a meeting with Kim Jong Un. Sources told the outlet that the US president had privately discussed arranging an in-person discussion with Kim during his upcoming trip to Asia, likely in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in China.
Over the weekend, Trump posted on Truth Social: "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." He added, "While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, 'No thanks!'"
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, the president explicitly linked his decision to South Korea's refusal to "give us a little hand" with Iran. He stated, "We have 39,000 soldiers over there guarding you from Kim Jong Un, your next door neighbour, and you're not going to help us on a very easy military operation in Iran. That's strange."
Last week, US and South Korean military leaders announced the Ulchi Freedom Shield in a joint press conference. At that time, they stated the event would be similar in scale to previous years, with approximately 18,000 South Korean soldiers participating. Around 28,500 American military personnel are stationed in South Korea.
During the news conference, military leaders also mentioned North Korea's deployment of troops to assist Russia's war against Ukraine. US military spokesperson Ryan Donald said, "our training accounts for that threat," referring to North Korean soldiers returning from the battlefield. Following that press conference, North Korea's foreign ministry condemned the joint military drills as "a rehearsal for an aggressive war."