President Donald Trump directed War Secretary Pete Hegseth to substantially reduce the upcoming Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises with South Korea, saying the drills are expensive and send an unnecessarily hostile signal to North Korea.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump ordered a significant reduction in upcoming joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea, intervening just before the allies were scheduled to begin their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield training.
Trump announced the decision Sunday in a Truth Social post, saying he had directed War Secretary Pete Hegseth to scale back the exercises because canceling them entirely at such a late stage was no longer practical.
The 11-day exercise is scheduled to begin Monday, with approximately 18,000 South Korean troops expected to participate.
Trump framed the decision around both cost and diplomacy with North Korea, arguing that continuing large-scale joint exercises works against his effort to maintain a less confrontational relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea,” Trump wrote.
He said the exercises impose significant costs, much of which he said are carried by the United States, while simultaneously projecting what he considers an unnecessarily antagonistic message toward Pyongyang.
“Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!” Trump wrote.
The United States and South Korea have long characterized their combined exercises as defensive training intended to maintain military readiness and ensure that American and South Korean forces can operate together effectively if a conflict occurs.
North Korea has repeatedly rejected that characterization, portraying major U.S.-South Korean exercises as preparations for an invasion.
Pyongyang issued another warning Friday ahead of this year’s Ulchi Freedom Shield, signaling that the exercises could trigger a forceful response.
Trump’s order marks another shift in the long-running military relationship surrounding the Korean Peninsula and echoes steps he took during his first administration, when some major exercises were halted or reduced while he pursued direct diplomacy with Kim.
On Sunday, Trump said North Korea had been “unthreatening and respectful” during his presidency and explicitly connected his decision on the exercises to his relationship with the North Korean leader.
The U.S.-South Korean military alliance dates to the 1953 Mutual Defense Treaty, and the two countries have conducted large-scale combined exercises for decades.
The summer training that ultimately developed into Ulchi Freedom Shield traces its roots to 1976, when South Korea’s Ulchi government mobilization exercise was combined with U.S. and allied military training.
The exercise was later known as Ulchi Focus Lens before being renamed Ulchi Freedom Guardian in 2008. It eventually evolved into the current Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise.
The allies normally conduct major combined training annually, supplemented by smaller exercises during the rest of the year.
Ulchi Freedom Shield, typically held in August, combines command-post simulations with field training and is designed to test a broad range of military capabilities.
According to U.S. Forces Korea, the exercise incorporates live, virtual, constructive and field-based training involving personnel from multiple military branches.
Training can include land, naval, air, cyber and space operations, as well as live-fire drills, logistics exercises, command-and-control operations and coordination among U.S. forces, South Korean troops and government agencies.
Last year’s exercise also included American and South Korean aircraft operating jointly through complex training scenarios.
The scale and frequency of the exercises have changed at several points when Washington sought to reduce tensions with Pyongyang.
Trump previously suspended major exercises during his first term while negotiating directly with Kim, making Sunday’s order consistent with his earlier approach of using military-training reductions as part of broader diplomatic signaling toward North Korea.
The latest decision does not eliminate Ulchi Freedom Shield. Instead, Hegseth has been directed to “substantially reduce” the exercise after Trump concluded that a complete cancellation was no longer feasible immediately before its scheduled start.
Trump also used his Sunday statement to reference a separate geopolitical issue involving Iran.
According to Trump, he recently asked South Korea’s president whether the country wanted to participate with the United States in the “Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Trump said the South Korean president responded: “No thanks!”
The comments came amid the continuing U.S. confrontation with Iran and as Trump sought to distinguish South Korea’s unwillingness to participate in that effort from his own desire to reduce tensions with North Korea.
For the Korean Peninsula, the immediate effect of Trump’s directive will be a smaller-than-planned Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise as U.S. and South Korean military officials adjust training that was scheduled to begin within hours of the president’s announcement.
Trump made clear that his decision was driven not by a rejection of the U.S.-South Korean alliance, but by his belief that the scope of the exercises is unnecessarily expensive and counterproductive to his relationship with Kim.
The order leaves the annual training in place while significantly reducing its scale, adding another diplomatic component to the administration’s approach toward North Korea at a time when Pyongyang continues to regard U.S.-South Korean military exercises as a direct threat.
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