Part 2 ‘Counterattack’ practice omitted… “Only 7 out of 14 joint outdoor maneuver trainings were conducted normally.”
The biennial ROK-US Navy and Marine Corps ‘Twin Dragon Exercise’ is also canceled... Due to restrictions on the use of U.S. troops due to the situation in the Middle East
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Eun-jeong and Kim Cheol-seon = The Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, a regular ROK-US joint exercise to defend the Korean Peninsula in case of emergency, will end early on the 21st.
The UFS exercise, which began on the 17th, was originally scheduled to last until the 27th, but following U.S. President Donald Trump's downsizing order, the training period was significantly reduced from 11 to 5 days.
Of the 14 originally planned joint outdoor maneuver training exercises at the battalion level and above in conjunction with UFS, Command Post Exercise (CPX), only half will be conducted normally.
An official from the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "Seven of the joint outdoor maneuver exercises are scheduled to be carried out as originally planned until the 28th, and for the remaining training, ROK and the United States will discuss closely and come up with a plan."
The UFS exercise, which assumes an all-out war situation on the Korean Peninsula, is divided into Part 1 (defense) and Part 2 (counterattack). This time, only the first part of the exercise is conducted and ends.
Earlier, on the 16th (local time), President Trump said on social media, "Considering the very good relationship between Chairman Kim Jong-un and I, I am not satisfied with the fact that the United States has long agreed to participate in joint military exercises with South Korea," and ordered Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to drastically reduce the scale of joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States.
Accordingly, the ROK-US military authorities agreed to omit part 2 of the command post training and reduce outdoor mobile training.
The UFS exercise, which was scaled down this time under President Trump's orders, is a theater-level exercise in preparation for an all-out war on the Korean Peninsula, along with the 'Freedom Shield (FS)' exercise. FS is conducted in the first half of the year, and UFS is conducted in the second half of the year.
It is unprecedented in history that the period and scale of the ongoing theater-level ROK-US joint exercises have been reduced.
President Trump's order to reduce training is interpreted as a ploy to create conditions for the resumption of dialogue by preemptively sending a conciliatory message in order to achieve a meeting with Chairman Kim Jong-un within the year.
The analysis is that this reflects the intention to use the suspension of joint exercises, which North Korea has reacted sensitively to as a hostile policy, as an excuse to open the door to dialogue with North Korea. Suspension of joint training is one of the conditions for resumption of dialogue proposed by North Korea, along with recognition as a nuclear weapons state.
Meanwhile, the 'Ssangryong Exercise', a division-level joint exercise between the ROK-US Navy and Marine Corps that takes place every other year, was also canceled this year.
Twin Dragon training was originally scheduled to be held in September of this year, but the US military reportedly requested an adjustment to the training plan around June of this year, saying that troop operations will be limited due to the aftermath of the recent war with Iran. Accordingly, last month, South Korea and the United States made the final decision to cancel this year's training.
South Korea and the United States are planning a total of 159 joint outdoor maneuver exercises this year, but the number of actual training exercises that are being conducted is expected to decrease due to Trump's order to reduce exercises and the aftermath of the Middle East crisis.
