The U.S. Defense Department has begun in earnest to scale back related drills in line with President Donald Trump's order to "drastically reduce the South Korea-U.S. combined military exercises."
On the 17th (local time), a Ministry of National Defense official told multiple domestic outlets, "The Ministry of National Defense (War Department) is working actively to implement the Commander-in-Chief's directive," officially confirming the reduction of the exercises. Initially, the Ministry of National Defense drew a line by saying there were no changes and to ask the White House. But within hours, it reversed course. The New York Times (NYT), citing officials, reported that "the Defense Department was caught off guard by President Trump's sudden announcement." It is interpreted to mean the president made a unilateral decision without meticulous prior coordination among departments.
Trump said the day before on his Truth Social that "scaling back the exercises will restart talks with North Korea and make the situation on the Korean Peninsula safer." On the 17th, he strongly criticized South Korea for not joining military operations against Iran and unabashedly downplayed the value of the alliance. Trump pressed South Korea hard by linking the Iran situation with the defense cost-sharing issue. Trump spoke with President Lee Jae-myung on the 16th, saying, "We station 39,000 U.S. troops and protect you from your neighbor Kim Jong-un, yet you do not help us even with a very easy military operation. It's really strange." He then raised the prospect of a hefty security bill by mentioning discussions to increase the defense cost-sharing by $10 billion.
In contrast to his complaints toward South Korea, he took an extremely conciliatory stance toward North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. When criticism arose in political circles that scaling back the South Korea-U.S. combined drills prioritizes North Korea's interests, he dismissed it, saying, "I am making the situation much safer." Revealing that North Korea had responded to calls for talks, he added, "Kim Jong-un has always treated me with great respect." The stance is seen as an attempt to showcase that, compared with the Obama and Biden administrations, he maintains a solid friendship with the North Korean leader.
Experts warned of a security gap that unilateral reductions in exercises could cause. With the prolonging Iran crisis drawing key U.S. air defense assets to the Middle East, there are concerns that further cuts to drills on the Korean Peninsula could weaken military deterrence against North Korea and China.