Trump Cuts South Korea Drills Over Iran Refusal
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- Trump announced the US will "substantially reduce" joint military exercises with South Korea, posting on Truth Social that Seoul declined his invitation to join the "denuclearisation of the Islamic Republic of Iran" and telling reporters in the Oval Office it was "strange" to refuse while 39,000 US troops guard South Korea from Kim Jong Un.
- The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises were due to begin Monday with about 18,000 South Korean soldiers and 28,500 US personnel stationed in South Korea; Trump said it was "too late to cancel," while South Korea earlier confirmed drills would proceed "as scheduled."
- South Korea's presidential Blue House said it would continue consultations on US-Korea military cooperation related to the Strait of Hormuz while discussing details on joint military drills with the US.
- Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, warned that scaling back drills "can damage alliance coordination" and "weaken deterrence against possible conflicts in Asia," calling cost savings "marginal" and diplomatic benefits "doubtful."
- North Korea's foreign ministry condemned the joint drills on Friday as "a rehearsal for an aggressive war," days after South Korea, the US, and Japan detected the second North Korean ballistic missile test in days.
- Trump previously suspended the exercises entirely in 2018 during denuclearization talks with Kim, calling them "provocative," and scaled them back again in 2020 during the Covid pandemic; South Korea committed $350bn to US investment earlier this year to defuse tensions.
Why it matters: Trump is punishing a key Asian ally for declining participation in a separate Middle East conflict by gutting scheduled military exercises involving 28,500 US troops and 18,000 South Korean soldiers — a move experts say weakens deterrence against North Korea, which just conducted banned ballistic missile tests and condemned the drills as preparation for war.
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