Citing a request from Washington, South Korea shortens its war games with the United States.

According to South Korea’s defence ministry, Washington has requested that the country’s yearly joint military exercises with the United States be shortened by six days. According to Seoul, a “proposal of the US side” caused the “period and scale” of the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise in 2026 to be changed.

Instead of ending on August 27 as originally scheduled, the drill will now end on August 21. It comes after Donald Trump announced plans to halt exercises with South Korea, citing his “very good” relationship with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. During a parliamentary session, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun stated that neither US nor South Korean officials had prior knowledge of Trump’s plans.

The exercises’ combined field training exercise component would also be “partially reduced in scale,” according to Seoul, although the “specific details” of that reduction are still being discussed. South Korea’s faith in America’s willingness to support it under a defence deal that forms the basis of their relationship is shaken by the unprecedented curtailment.  Additionally, it communicates with Taiwan and Japan, two major US allies in the area.

The Wall Street Journal was informed by US authorities that Trump is pressuring his advisors to meet with Kim Jong Un, which prompted the revelation. Over the weekend, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile.”

He added: “While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!’ Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, the president again explicitly linked his decision to South Korea’s refusal to “give us a little hand” with Iran.

“We have 39,000 soldiers over there guarding you from Kim Jong Un, your next door neighbour, and you’re not going to help us on a very easy military operation in Iran,” he said. “That’s strange”. At a joint news briefing last week, military leaders from the US and South Korea unveiled the Ulchi Freedom shield.

At the time, they predicted that roughly 18,000 South Korean soldiers would take part in the event, which would be comparable in size to prior years. South Korea is home to about 28,500 US military personnel. Military officials also brought up North Korea’s force deployment to support Russia’s fight against Ukraine at the press briefing.