South Korea will end the 2026 Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise a week early after a request from Washington.
The plan, originally slated to finish on 27 August, will now conclude on 21 August, trimming the event by six days. Seoul said the change followed a "proposal of the US side" during joint planning for the exercises.
The move follows President Donald Trump’s recent remarks that war games are costly—much of the expense being borne by the United States—and that they serve a hostile message to North Korea. Trump also linked the decision to Seoul’s stance on Iran, tweeting that the U.S. would have liked the Korean Peninsula to assist in a military operation in Iran.
Korean officials say they were not aware of Trump’s comments before the request and that negotiations about the scale and duration of the exercise were still underway. The announcement comes after the U.S. announced plans to reduce service commitments on the Korean Peninsula and also after the U.S. charged that North Korea had sent troops to aid Russia in Ukraine.
The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise has been a long‑running fixture, drawing 18,000 South Korean ground troops and 28,500 American soldiers stationed in the peninsula each year. It is seen as a key component of deterrence against North Korean aggression.
