South Korea’s military has confirmed that joint military drills with the US will be cut short, days after Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to scale back the exercises.
In a statement on Wednesday, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said at the request of the US side, the Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise – which began on Monday would end on Friday, six days earlier than originally planned.
Separately, joint field training exercises, live outdoor drills held alongside the simulated command exercise, would also be “partially reduced”, though the two militaries were still working out the details, the statement said.
A Pentagon official later confirmed the US military was “substantially” reducing joint exercises with South Korea.
Trump said on Sunday he was “not happy” with US participation in the exercise, citing his “very good relationship” with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and describing the drills as costly and “hostile” toward Pyongyang.
South Korea’s foreign minister, Cho Hyun, told a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday that Seoul had been caught off guard by Trump’s directive.
“Our government officials, of course, and the US government officials hadn’t known about it in advance”, Cho said, when asked whether Seoul had been informed.
Ahead of Wednesday’s announcement, South Korean broadcasters KBS and MBC and the newspaper Kyunghyang reported, citing unnamed military sources, that the exercise’s second stage, a simulated counterattack against North Korea that Pyongyang has always denounced most sharply, would be scrapped entirely and bring the exercise to an early end.
Days before the exercise began, Lt Gen Scott Winter, deputy commander of the United Nations Command, the multinational body that oversees the armistice and contributes personnel to the exercise, described this year’s UFS exercise as “bigger and better than ever”.
The US military presence in South Korea dates back to the Korean war, which ended in an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty in ۱۹۵۳, meaning the two Koreas remain technically at war.
US troops have been stationed in South Korea ever since, and the country now hosts Camp Humphreys, the largest American military base outside the US. The two militaries train and operate together closely, including through large-scale annual exercises such as this week’s.
Previous cuts and cancellations to joint exercises, including in ۱۹۹۲, ۱۹۹۴ and after Trump’s first summit with Kim in ۲۰۱۸, were all decided before the drills began, rather than after they were already under way.
Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Trump was pushing aides to arrange a meeting with Kim as early as the northern hemisphere autumn, citing unnamed US officials.
The paper said Trump had privately discussed an in-person meeting to take place during his next trip to Asia, which could be in November when he is expected to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Shenzhen, China.
Earlier, a social media post from Trump showing an image of Kim surrounded by military officials, speaking into a telephone, captioned “Hey Donald, we cool … right?”.
Trump also told reporters Kim had “responded” to his overtures for talks, though he declined to give details.
Trump met Kim three times during his first term, including a brief crossing into North Korean territory at the demilitarised zone in ۲۰۱۹. Speculation about a renewed summit has grown since Trump shared an old photograph of the pair together on Truth Social last weekend.
Cheong Seong-chang, the vice-president of the Seoul-based Sejong Institute thinktank, said Trump could go further if talks with Kim resumed, potentially suspending the joint exercises altogether or reducing US troop numbers without consulting Seoul.
South Korea’s presidential office said this week it would continue to coordinate with Washington on the exercises as president Lee Jae Myung separately renewed calls for greater military independence.
