Seoul’s military leaders announced Wednesday that joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea have been cut in half at the request of the U.S. government, days after U.S. President Donald Trump called for the reductions due to the close ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, which began on Monday and was scheduled to last for 10 days, will end on Friday, August 21, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced in a statement, “South Korea and the United States have decided to partially adjust the period and scale of the exercise in response to the US request.”
CNN has reached out to the Department of Defense for comment.
The revised end date came after President Trump announced on Sunday that he had asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to scale back military exercises with South Korea, a key regional ally, citing good relations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korea’s lack of support for Iran.
The U.S. and South Korea frequently hold joint military exercises, and South Korea is home to Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. military installation overseas, and home to tens of thousands of U.S. military personnel, their families, and Korean nationals.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
