Trump Orders Pentagon To Substantially Reduce Ulchi Freedom Shield Drills With South Korea

Trump cuts drills

President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” joint military exercises with South Korea, saying the drills are costly and “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea. Trump said the exercises, due to start on Monday, are too late to cancel and instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!” in a social media post. The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises were set to run for 11 days and involve 18,000 South Korean soldiers, with the U.S. military saying the drills were designed to beef up readiness against North Korean threats.

South Korea’s Ministry of Defence said the military exercises would “proceed as previously notified and scheduled,” while ABC News reported that South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed the drills would end early after the U.S. order. North Korea has repeatedly condemned the drills as an invasion rehearsal, and the Al Jazeera report said a North Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson claimed U.S.-Japan-South Korea military cooperation is turning into a nuclear alliance.

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Reactions and quotes

South Korea’s presidential office said it hopes the “friendly relationship” between Trump and Kim Jong Un will lead to “meaningful dialogue” between the U.S. and North Korea and start discussions aimed at promoting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

In Washington, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly criticized the decision, saying that “hollowing out these joint exercises is shortsighted and a mistake,” according to the KRMG/AP report.

Trump also snapped at a reporter at the White House, telling CNN’s reporter “Be quiet, be quiet, be quiet,” and calling them “a loud, boisterous person.”

Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said downsizing the drills “can damage alliance coordination, slow the process of South Korea taking on greater responsibility for its own defense, and weaken deterrence against possible conflicts in Asia,” while Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at Washington’s Center for a New American Security, said “Reducing joint drills weakens military readiness over time against another potential North Korean attack.”

Reporting for this sectionAgencia de Noticias YonhapAl Jazeera

What’s at stake next

The U.S. military said the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises reinforce “the role of the alliance as the linchpin for regional peace and security” and reaffirm “the ironclad commitment between the United States and the Republic of Korea to defend their homelands.”

ABC News reported that the drills would now end Aug. 21, six days earlier than originally planned, after the allies agreed to adjust parts of the exercise, including its duration and scale.

The ABC News report also said South Korea hopes for resumption of diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea to ease animosities on the Korean Peninsula, while Trump cited his “very good relationship” with Kim Jong Un for the decision.

North Korea’s threats have framed the drills as hostile, with the KRMG/AP report quoting Pyongyang describing the exercises as “a rehearsal for an aggressive war” that is triggering greater instability in the region.

Democrats and Republicans alike tied the decision to broader concerns about U.S. commitments, with Jack Reed warning that it sends a message that “America’s commitments are negotiable,” and Republican Senator Thom Tillis arguing that reducing joint exercises “does nothing more than free up thousands of North Korea’s troops to support Putin’s systematic kidnapping, torture, rape and murder of innocent Ukrainian citizens.”

Reporting for this section102.3 KRMGAl Jazeera