Army generals push bigger, more frequent Korea exercises — SkimNews
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- Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of US Forces Korea, proposed moving beyond the two annual command-post exercises toward distributed training shaped by the Ukraine war, suggesting a single drill spanning nearly 300 miles from Jeju Island to Gyeonggi Province
- Brunson said the goal is to deny adversaries a fixed target by rotating positions, arguing North Korea is studying the same Ukraine fight and US forces must stay ahead
- Brunson acknowledged ongoing collusion and information sharing between Russia, China, and North Korea as the strategic backdrop for reshaping exercises
- Lt. Gen. Joe Hilbert clarified that Trump's August 16 order applied only to Ulchi Freedom Shield, not all joint training — that drill's live portion was cut by half and some joint elements became unilateral
- Hilbert said troops from the Army's 2nd Infantry Division are currently training on South Korean ranges in a rotational deployment, signaling joint training continues outside the scaled-back exercise window
- Additional exercises between the two annual drills are on the table, and a recent staff-only exercise drilled mass garrison evacuation scenarios in light of a major threat
Why it matters: The split between Trump's political directive to scale back Korea exercises and Gen. Brunson's push to expand them reveals an operational-policy gap — Hilbert's narrower reading of the order (Ulchi Freedom Shield only) gave commanders latitude to preserve broader readiness and graft Ukraine war lessons onto Korean training, leaving the policy directive effectively symbolic.
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