South Korea and the United States have shortened the duration of their joint military drills and scaled back field training exercises after US President Donald Trump ordered a “substantial reduction” in the annual war games.
The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, which began on August 17, will be cut from 11 days to five and will now end on August 21, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Tuesday.
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The adjustment to the duration of the drills was agreed at Washington’s suggestion, the JCS said, adding that some combined field manoeuvre training would also be scaled back.
According to South Korean media, Seoul’s Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back said the allies were moving to cancel the second phase of the drills, which had been expected to involve counterattack operations after an initial defensive phase.
A US Department of Defense official told the Reuters news agency the department had substantially reduced the exercise and associated live-training events, with some cancelled or switched to simulations.
The changes would preserve essential readiness and training aims, with no degradation to US training objectives, the official added.
No ‘advance’ notice
The changes follow Trump’s order on Sunday to reduce the US role in the drills, citing his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump also linked the decision to Seoul’s refusal to join the US and Israel’s war on Iran.
South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said at a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday that neither South Korean nor US officials had been aware in advance of Trump’s order to scale back joint military drills.
“Our government officials, of course, and the US government officials hadn’t known about it in advance,” Cho said, when asked by a lawmaker whether Seoul had been informed about Trump’s plans.
He added that Trump’s message appeared aimed at pressuring Seoul to become involved in the war on Iran.
Nuclear-armed North Korea has long voiced outrage at the US-South Korea exercises, considering them dress rehearsals for an invasion.
It again denounced the drills on Wednesday, saying it would continue exercising its right to self-defence against what it called military threats from Washington and Seoul.
Seoul’s presidential office had said on Tuesday the drills did not reflect “any intention to attack North Korea or escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula”.
Trump meanwhile said on Monday that Kim had responded to his outreach, without disclosing the nature of the contact. He insisted that he is making the situation “much safer” through his ties with the North Korean leader.
The two men met three times during Trump’s first term in the White House, but have not held talks during his second.
The Wall Street Journal reported separately that Trump has pushed aides to arrange an in-person meeting with Kim as soon as this autumn. Citing US officials, the Journal said Trump has discussed holding talks during a possible November trip to Asia for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
‘Critical’
The US stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to bolster the country’s defences, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
But Trump’s repeated criticism of time-honoured alliances has cast doubt on US commitments to security in East Asia and alarmed regional allies.
Japan’s Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Tuesday underlined the importance of security cooperation with the US and South Korea.
“As Japan faces the most severe and complicated security environment in the post-war era, the cooperation among Japan, the United States and South Korea is critical to the peace and stability of the region,” Koizumi told journalists in Australia.
Asked about Trump’s comments, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said his country was “very concerned about North Korea’s nuclear programme as well as its missile programme, and we have consistently made that point”.
“I think in the challenging world that we face … and there are many challenges, but North Korea is the author of quite a few of those challenges,” he added.