Unprecedented Scaling Back of Ongoing Drill... Ending Six Days Early

[Anchor]

Following U.S. President Trump's instruction to scale down South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises, the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) drill will end the day after tomorrow (August 21), six days earlier than scheduled. It is an unprecedented situation for an exercise already underway to be drastically reduced in duration and scale midway. As the planned drills are effectively cut in half, concerns are rising that this could also impact the transition of wartime operational control (OPCON).

Reporter Kim Hye-young has the details.

[Reporter]

The South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS), which was scheduled to run for over 10 days until August 27, has been rescheduled to end the day after tomorrow.

Only Part 1, a defensive exercise responding to North Korean attacks, will be conducted, while Part 2, the counterattack phase, has been completely cancelled.

Significant portions of the 14 planned combined field training exercises at the battalion level or higher have also been cancelled or replaced with simulations.

It is unprecedented for a joint South Korea-U.S. exercise already in progress to have its duration and scale drastically reduced at the request of the U.S. side.

The Ministry of National Defense maintains that since evaluations for the wartime operational control transition are concluded during the defensive phase of Part 1, there are no issues with the transition schedule. However, concerns are also being raised that even Part 1 is being conducted in a disorganized and superficial manner, making a proper evaluation difficult.

[Yang Uk / Senior Research Fellow, Asan Institute for Policy Studies: As the exercise is scaled back, verification opportunities decrease, yet we are facing a situation where the OPCON transition must proceed according to a political schedule.]

This scaling back of UFS was implemented just two days after U.S. President Trump issued his directive.

Back in 2018, immediately following the North Korea-U.S. summit in Singapore, President Trump also called the South Korea-U.S. joint exercises "very provocative and expensive" and ordered their suspension.

At that time, the suspension was decided after the summit, but this time, the drill reduction is being pushed through even before any outlines of a summit have emerged.

With a precedent now set where an ongoing joint exercise is disrupted by the political judgment of the U.S. president, voices of concern are emerging that neighboring countries might misjudge the solidity of the South Korea-U.S. alliance.

(Camera Reporter: Kim Hyun-sang | Video Editor: Lee Seung-hee)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.