South Korea shortens war games with US, citing Washington request

What the report says

South Korea has agreed to shorten its annual joint military exercise with the United States after what Seoul described as a request from Washington, according to the Nile Post’s reported wire coverage from BBC. The defence ministry said the Ulchi Freedom Shield drill will now end on August 21 instead of August 27, and that the size of the combined field-training component will also be reduced, with the details still being worked out.

The change follows remarks by US President Donald Trump, who said he wanted to scale back exercises with South Korea and tied the move to his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. South Korea’s foreign minister, Cho Hyun, told lawmakers that officials in Seoul and Washington had not been briefed in advance on Trump’s plans, as reported by the BBC.

The exercise is a routine annual test of allied readiness between US and South Korean forces. BBC’s account noted that the latest drill had been planned at a scale similar to previous years, with about 18,000 South Korean troops involved, while roughly 28,500 US service members are stationed in South Korea. The timing matters because the adjustment comes amid ongoing tensions on the Korean peninsula and renewed attention to Washington’s approach to Pyongyang.