South Korea and the United States (US) will cut short their annual joint military exercise by six days following a US request, as US President Donald Trump pushes to revive talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Wednesday that the Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, which began on Monday, would now conclude on Friday instead of its originally scheduled end date, reports The Guardian.
The two militaries will also “partially reduce” joint field training exercises, including live outdoor drills held alongside the simulated command exercise. Details of the reduction were still being worked out, the statement said.
A Pentagon official later confirmed that the US military was “substantially” reducing its joint exercises with South Korea.
Trump said on Sunday he was “not happy” with US participation in the exercise, pointing to his “very good relationship” with Kim and calling the drills costly and “hostile” towards Pyongyang.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday that Seoul had been surprised 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 South Korea had received prior notice.
Before Wednesday’s official announcement, South Korean broadcasters KBS and MBC and the newspaper Kyunghyang reported, citing unnamed military sources, that the exercise’s second phase would be scrapped entirely.
The phase involves a simulated counterattack against North Korea, the part of the drills that Pyongyang has consistently condemned most strongly.
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 as “bigger and better than ever”.
The US military presence in South Korea dates back to the Korean War, which ended with an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty in 1953. The two Koreas therefore remain technically at war.
US forces have remained stationed in South Korea since then. The country also hosts Camp Humphreys, the largest American military base outside the US. The two militaries maintain close operational ties and regularly conduct large-scale exercises such as UFS.
Earlier reductions and cancellations of joint exercises, including those in 1992, 1994 and after Trump’s first summit with Kim in 2018, were agreed before the drills began rather than after they were already under way.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Trump was pressing his aides to arrange a meeting with Kim as early as the autumn, citing unnamed US officials.
The newspaper said Trump had privately discussed holding an in-person meeting during his next trip to Asia. Such a trip could take place in November, when he is expected to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Shenzhen, China.
Trump had earlier shared a social media post showing Kim surrounded by military officials and speaking on a telephone, with the caption, “Hey Donald, we cool … right?”.
Trump also told reporters that Kim had “responded” to his overtures for talks, although he declined to provide details.
Trump met Kim three times during his first term as president, including a brief crossing into North Korean territory at the demilitarised zone in 2019. Speculation over another summit has increased since Trump posted an old photograph of the two leaders together on Truth Social last weekend.
Cheong Seong-chang, vice-president of the Seoul-based Sejong Institute thinktank, said Trump could take further steps if talks with Kim resumed.
These could include suspending the joint exercises altogether or reducing the number of US troops in South Korea without consulting Seoul.
South Korea’s presidential office said this week that it would continue coordinating with Washington on the exercises.
At the same time, President Lee Jae Myung renewed his calls for greater military independence.
