Annual war games between South Korea and the US are to end about a week earlier than planned, both countries said yesterday, after US President Donald Trump ordered the “inappropriate and hostile” drills scaled back.
Trump on Sunday said that he had told the Pentagon to curtail the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercises — a day before they started — citing his “good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Pyongyang’s state media yesterday called the drills a “most immediate and open threat,” without mentioning Trump’s order.
Photo: AP
Hours later, Seoul’s military said the drills would wrap up tomorrow, not on Friday next week as originally planned.
“We have decided to adjust the UFS exercise period to run from the 17th to the 21st,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
The decision was made “at the suggestion of the US side,” it added.
The Pentagon said the “substantially reduced” drills would “preserve essential readiness and ... [cause] no degradation to US training objectives.”
The exercises are designed to prepare for a possible attack by North Korea.
They were understood to consist of two phases: the first, focused on defending against potential North Korean threats, was due to run until tomorrow; and the second, focused on a counteroffensive, from Monday to Friday next week.
The second phase is now understood to have been scrapped.
A South Korean military official told reporters that Seoul viewed the decision as “unusual.”
Yesterday’s commentary by Pyongyang’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said the drills pose “the most immediate and open threat” to North Korea and “regional security.”
It did not mention Trump’s order or his desire to resume talks with Kim, with whom he has hinted at being in contact.
Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification, said that Pyongyang had deliberately avoided mentioning Trump.
North Korea was “sticking to general principles as if completely unaware of” Trump’s comments, he told reporters.
“Showing awareness could suggest a degree of mutual understanding,” but feigning ignorance signals that the issue could become a key bargaining point in any future talks with Trump, he said.
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