{"id":27528,"date":"2026-08-19T10:12:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/?p=27528"},"modified":"2026-08-19T10:12:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:12:25","slug":"us-korea-cut-ulchi-freedom-shield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/world\/us-korea-cut-ulchi-freedom-shield\/","title":{"rendered":"The US and South Korea have scaled back the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"news-lead\">The United States and South Korea will bring the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises to a premature close on 21 August, rather than on the 27th. The duration has been reduced from 11 to five days following an order from US President Donald Trump to significantly scale back American participation. Some of the field manoeuvres will be cancelled or converted to simulations, South Korean commanders and a Pentagon spokesperson told Reuters.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-summary-box\">\n<p><strong>Briefly about the main points<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises will last five days and will conclude on 21 August.<\/li>\n<li>The allies are agreeing on specific changes to the field component of the programme.<\/li>\n<li>There are plans to cancel the second phase, involving counter-offensive operations.<\/li>\n<li>North Korea has declared its intention to exercise its \u00abright to self-defence\u00bb.<\/li>\n<li>The WSJ reported that plans were being drawn up for a possible autumn meeting between Trump and Kim.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>The field component of the programme is being scaled back, but the team objectives remain the same<\/h2>\n<p>Changes to the programme were made at the suggestion of the US side, and the allies are still agreeing on the final details of the reduction in certain joint field manoeuvres. South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Kyu-beok stated that the parties are moving towards cancelling the second phase of the exercises. This phase was intended to practise counter-attack operations following the first, defensive stage.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for the US Department of Defence has confirmed a significant reduction in the exercises themselves and the associated combat training. According to him, some of the activities will be cancelled, whilst others will be conducted as simulations. At the same time, the Pentagon believes that this will enable the main training objectives and the necessary level of combat readiness of the US military to be maintained.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/world\/trump-skorochae-navchannya-ssha-koreya\/\">Ulchi Freedom Shield<\/a> is one of two key annual cycles of joint training for the allies. It is based on computer-assisted command-and-staff exercises, supplemented by field exercises. Therefore, the revision of the field component does not halt the entire cycle, but does limit the practical training of unit coordination.<\/p>\n<h2>Trump\u2019s decision came as a surprise to officials in both countries<\/h2>\n<p>Donald Trump issued the order on 16 August. He explained that it was motivated, in particular, by his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his desire to resume direct dialogue with Pyongyang.<\/p>\n<p>South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told a parliamentary hearing that neither US nor South Korean officials had prior knowledge of this decision. President Lee Jae-myung emphasised the day before that the exercises are defensive in nature, and that Seoul has no intention of using them to attack North Korea or to escalate tensions on the peninsula.<\/p>\n<p>According to the AP, there are around 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea. The country\u2019s security relies on US extended deterrence, so changes to joint military planning also have political implications for allied guarantees.<\/p>\n<h2>Pyongyang condemned the military exercises without mentioning the US President\u2019s order<\/h2>\n<p>On 19 August, the state-run KCNA news agency once again condemned the exercise and stated that <a href=\"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/world\/kndr-raketa-navchannyamy-ssha-seul\/\">DPRK<\/a> will continue to exercise its \u00abright to self-defence\u00bb in response to military activity by the US and South Korea. Pyongyang traditionally describes such manoeuvres as preparations for a possible invasion.<\/p>\n<p>Washington and Seoul have rejected this claim, describing the exercises as defensive and necessary to maintain combat readiness. The KCNA statement made no mention of either Trump or his decision. Hong Min, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, believes that such a reaction may indicate Pyongyang\u2019s desire to leave room for diplomacy.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the start of Ulchi Freedom Shield, South Korea, the US and Japan also reported that North Korea had launched a short-range ballistic missile. According to the AP, this was the first such launch since late June, and Seoul and Tokyo described it as a provocation.<\/p>\n<h2>Washington is exploring possible contacts with Kim Jong-un<\/h2>\n<p>The Wall Street Journal reported that <strong>Trump has instructed his aides to explore the possibility of a face-to-face meeting with Kim Jong-un<\/strong> in the autumn of 2026. November was cited as a possible timeframe for the publication, when the US President may visit Asia.<\/p>\n<p>On 17 August, Trump stated that he had received a reply to his message to the North Korean leader, but did not provide any details.<\/p>\n<p>Against the backdrop of these events, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is visiting South Korea on 19\u201320 August. Among the topics expected to be discussed is the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US has scaled back its participation in the joint exercises with South Korea: Ulchi Freedom Shield will conclude on 21 August, and the field phase will be reviewed.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":207433346,"featured_media":27527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_description":"\u0421\u0428\u0410 \u0441\u043a\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0442\u0438\u043b\u0438 \u0443\u0447\u0430\u0441\u0442\u044c \u0443 \u043d\u0430\u0432\u0447\u0430\u043d\u043d\u044f\u0445 \u0456\u0437 \u041f\u0456\u0432\u0434\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u044e \u041a\u043e\u0440\u0435\u0454\u044e: Ulchi Freedom Shield \u0437\u0430\u0432\u0435\u0440\u0448\u0430\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f 21 \u0441\u0435\u0440\u043f\u043d\u044f, \u0430 \u043f\u043e\u043b\u044c\u043e\u0432\u0443 \u0447\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0438\u043d\u0443 \u043f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0433\u043b\u044f\u043d\u0443\u0442\u044c.","rank_math_title":"\u0421\u0428\u0410 \u0456 \u041f\u0456\u0432\u0434\u0435\u043d\u043d\u0430 \u041a\u043e\u0440\u0435\u044f \u0441\u043a\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0442\u0438\u043b\u0438 \u0432\u0456\u0439\u0441\u044c\u043a\u043e\u0432\u0456 \u043d\u0430\u0432\u0447\u0430\u043d\u043d\u044f","rank_math_focus_keyword":"\u0421\u0428\u0410 \u0456 \u041f\u0456\u0432\u0434\u0435\u043d\u043d\u0430 \u041a\u043e\u0440\u0435\u044f","td_subtitle":"","subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[805619],"tags":[805624],"class_list":["post-27528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-805624"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207433346"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27531,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27528\/revisions\/27531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}