LONDON — South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Employees (JCS) confirmed that ongoing joint army drills with U.S. forces would finish early, following President Donald Trump’s announcement Sunday that he had ordered the Pentagon to “considerably scale back” the workouts.
The annual U.S.-South Korea Ulchi Freedom Defend started Monday. On Wednesday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Employees mentioned in an announcement that, in response to a U.S. proposal, “the allies agreed to regulate elements of the train, together with its length and scale.”
The drills will now finish Aug. 21, six days sooner than initially deliberate. The 2 sides additionally agreed to cut back some mixed area coaching workouts, the small print of that are nonetheless beneath dialogue, the JCS mentioned.
“Going ahead, South Korea and america will focus on and implement varied measures to realize the targets of the usexercise and preserve a robust mixed protection posture,” the assertion added.
U.S. Military troopers conduct a coaching train on a river in Yeoncheon, South Korea, close to the border with North Korea, on Aug. 18, 2026.
Ahn Younger-joon/AP Picture
Trump ordered the drills scaled again, citing his “excellent” relationship with North Korea’s Supreme Chief Kim Jong Un. Pyongyang routinely protests joint U.S.-South Korean workouts, framing their army cooperation as undermining stability on the Korean Peninsula.
This week, Pyongyang described Ulchi Freedom Defend as an “open risk” to North Korea.
On Sunday, Trump criticized the annual army train as “inappropriate and hostile” towards North Korea, a rustic he mentioned has been “unthreatening and respectful” towards america throughout his presidency.
“Based mostly on my excellent relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I’m not pleased with the truth that america has, way back, agreed to take part in Joint Navy Workout routines with South Korea,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
“Due to this fact, and primarily based on the truth that it’s too late to cancel, I’ve instructed Secretary of Struggle, Pete Hegseth, to considerably scale back the Joint Navy Workout routines!” he mentioned.
South Korea is a longtime U.S. ally and hosts roughly 28,500 U.S. troops. The U.S. presence on the peninsula has historically been supposed to stop a resumption of cross-border hostilities, with the Korean Struggle of 1950-53 having by no means formally ended.
In 2006, North Korea examined its first nuclear weapon and has since been increasing its atomic weapons stockpile — regardless of worldwide condemnation and sanctions led by successive U.S. administrations — alongside a ballistic missile analysis program which has produced munitions able to reaching the continental U.S.
In latest many years, the U.S. presence in South Korea has additionally change into an essential level of leverage within the strategic contest between Washington and Beijing, the latter having lengthy served as Pyongyang’s prime patron.
South Korean troopers take part in an anti-terrorism train, linked to the continued joint army drills often known as Ulchi Freedom Defend (UFS), at Lotte Resort World on Aug. 19, 2026 in Seoul, South Korea.
Chung Sung-jun/Getty Photos
ABC Information’ Joohee Cho, Desiree Adib and Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
