One post from Trump cuts major military drills with Korea in half

South Korean and US officials have agreed to drastically cut back the schedule of their joint Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercises, a decision prompted by US President Donald Trump's order to scale down the drills. A high-ranking official from South Korea's ruling Democratic Party confirmed that the US proposed concluding the exercises on Aug. 21, based on Trump's instructions.

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made after the US suggested holding South Korea-US joint exercises only through Aug. 21 based on President Trump’s instructions.

This means the original schedule, set to run from Aug. 17 to Aug. 27, has been halved. The decision to shorten the exercises while they were already underway is highly unusual. The revised plan will only include the defense operation phase, concluding on Aug. 21, while the counterattack phase, scheduled for Aug. 23-27, has been canceled. Field maneuver exercises are also expected to be significantly curtailed or called off entirely.

The UFS exercises typically involve computer simulations of full-scale war scenarios on the Korean Peninsula and include various field maneuver exercises to enhance combat effectiveness. Fourteen battalion-level or higher field maneuver exercises were scheduled. It is now likely that some of these will be canceled, or South Korean forces will conduct them independently.

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actively working on executing the Commander-in-Chief’s directive.

US Forces Korea commander Gen. Xavier Brunson met with South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back to discuss curtailing field training associated with UFS. Brunson acknowledged to reporters that the meeting was to discuss Trump's social media post directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to "substantially reduce" the exercises. The Pentagon initially experienced some confusion but stated it was "actively working on executing the Commander-in-Chief’s directive."

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came to discuss Trump’s social media post.