President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to “substantially” scale back military drills with South Korea, citing his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his disappointment over Seoul not supporting the United States in its war on Iran. In a social media post on Sunday, Trump said the military exercises, which were due to start on Monday, are costly and “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, which he said “has been unthreatening and respectful” while Trump has been in the White House. He added that it was now too late to cancel the drills, so he had ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” them.
Noting Seoul’s stance on the US-Israel war on Iran, the US president said, “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!’” So how significant is Washington’s scaling down of military exercises with Seoul? And will it improve US-North Korea ties? The Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) drills are annual military exercises between Washington and Seoul that began in 1976 and mainly focus on defending South Korea from North Korea.
According to the website of the US military forces in South Korea, the exercises are a regular summer fixture for them and Seoul’s armed forces, featuring “live, virtual, constructive and field-based training, engaging personnel from the various military services”. In the past, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand have also joined the drills. The 11-day drill in South Korea will involve 18,000 Korean soldiers and 28,500 US personnel stationed in the region.
It comes amid thousands of North Korean soldiers participating in Russia’s war on Ukraine, and the spectre of those battle-hardened troops has heightened concerns in South Korea. While Washington and Seoul say the drills are defensive in nature, sections of South Korea also protest against the war games every year. Earlier this month, members of Solidarity for Peace, Sovereignty and Reunification, a grassroots South Korean organisation, staged a protest outside the US Embassy in Seoul against the UFS.
They argue that the drills could escalate regional military tensions and risk a nuclear war. North Korea has nuclear weapons, while the US has traditionally guaranteed South Korea nuclear security. Every year, North Korea has also opposed the drills by testing its own missile technology at the time of the drills or launching ballistic missiles towards South Korea.
Last week, North Korea denounced the latest drills as a provocation that heightens tensions on the Korean Peninsula. On August 12, North Korea launched a ballistic missile towards the Sea of Japan, according to Seoul and Tokyo, marking the second such test from Pyongyang in less than a week. Then on Friday, a spokesperson for North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that the US-Japan-South Korea military cooperation is turning into a nuclear alliance, and Pyongyang will respond to a new level of threat with a new level of deterrent.
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