US-South Korea military drills cut in half after Trump’s broadside

WASHINGTON — South Korea’s defense ministry acknowledged today that an ongoing exercise with the US will be sharply curtailed, after US President Donald Trump said the drills were unnecessarily “hostile” toward the autocratic regime in North Korea.

The ongoing exercise, dubbed Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS), was expected to run from Aug. 17 through Aug. 27 but will now end on Friday, Aug. 21, South Korean officials said today, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency and international reports.

On Sunday, Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social that the exercises “are not only costly […] but send a signal that is completely inappropriate and hostile,” adding that he had a “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“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!’” Trump wrote. Trump further said he ordered Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” the scope of the exercise.

At the White House this week, Trump also criticized Seoul for not paying enough money for “protection” provided by the US.

The broadside took officials in South Korea, a decades-long ally of the US, by surprise. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told South Korean lawmakers today that “neither our government nor US officials knew what President Trump wrote on his Truth Social [platform],” according to Yonhap. “We were not notified in advance.”

The Pentagon told The Associated Press that the “adjustments preserve essential readiness and training objectives. There will be no degradation to U.S. training objectives.”

Shortening the exercise does not seem to have appeased North Korea, which today reportedly continued to condemn it, threatening to “completely neutralize the enemies [sic] military threat.”

Trump’s embrace of North Korea — a continuation from his first administration — drew criticism from political opponents, especially as North Korea has been sending troops to aid Russia in its long-stalled invasion of Ukraine. His Truth Social post also happened to come a day before the 50th anniversary of the deaths of two American servicemembers at the hands of North Korean troops along the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.

Ashley Roque contributed to this report.