U.S. Department of Defense: "Significant Reduction in South Korea-U.S. Joint Exercises... No Impact on Training Objectives"

Simultaneous Announcements by U.S. Department of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff
UFS Exercise to End Early on the 21st

The U.S. Department of Defense (Department of War) announced in a statement on the 18th (local time) that, "In accordance with the instructions of U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the joint South Korea-U.S. exercises have been significantly scaled back." As a result, the exercises that were originally scheduled to run until the 27th will end a week earlier, on the 21st.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (left) is entering the closing ceremony of the multinational PANAMAX 2026 military exercise held in Panama City on the 13th (local time). Photo by AFP Yonhap News

According to foreign media including CBS News, the U.S. Department of Defense stated in its press release that it "reduced the number of related live-action exercises and either canceled or switched some drills to simulations." The Department of Defense also added, "Essential readiness and training objectives will be maintained, and there will be no impact on the training objectives of U.S. forces."

This action follows President Trump's directive on the 16th to Secretary Hegseth to drastically scale back the South Korea-U.S. joint exercise 'Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS).' The UFS exercise is a regular combined training conducted to defend the Korean Peninsula in case of emergency and was originally scheduled to take place from the 17th to the 27th.

At the same time, the Joint Chiefs of Staff officially announced in a press release regarding this year’s UFS exercise that "South Korea and the U.S. have agreed to adjust the duration and scale of the exercise at the suggestion of the U.S. side," and that "the UFS exercise period has been rescheduled to run from the 17th to the 21st of this month."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.