South Korea and US cut short military exercises after Trump's order

The South Korean and US militaries have agreed to significantly shorten their military exercises at the request of the US, South Korean officials said today.

The move likely reflects US President Donald Trump's hopes of re-establishing contacts with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which could, however, undermine US-South Korean defense readiness, the AP reports.

South Korea's military said on Friday that ongoing military exercises with the United States would end on Friday, rather than August 27 as originally planned. It said the allies had also agreed to scale back some joint exercises and field training.

Trump ordered the Pentagon chief to scale back the scope of an 11-day summer military exercise between the two allies just before it began on Monday.

Trump cited good relations with Kim and South Korea's refusal to support him on Iran as reasons.

As stated, South Korea and the United States will consider and implement various steps to achieve the objectives of the exercises and establish combined defensive positions.

Many experts believe that Trump's move threatens to harm the joint US-South Korean defense posture and ultimately weaken the decades-old alliance.

Reducing or suspending military exercises is important because military commanders are rotated periodically. A one-year suspension of exercises would mean that commanders unfamiliar with drill procedures would participate when they resume, said Jang Uk, an analyst at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.

The exercises, called Ulchi Freedom Shield, are largely computer simulations of a command post designed to hone the allies' ability to respond to potential North Korean aggression. The two countries typically conduct some field training during the command post exercise period.

The drills and similar spring exercises are a central pillar of the U.S.-South Korea alliance, which dates back to the 1950-1953 Korean War. But they have also been a long-standing source of tension with North Korea, which has condemned the exercises as a rehearsal for invasion and responded with provocative missile tests. Days before this month’s drills began, North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the sea.

This month's maneuvers were to be held in two phases. The first phase, through Friday, was to focus on defensive operations simulating North Korean attacks, while the second phase, through August 27, was to practice counteroffensive operations. North Korea is particularly sensitive to counteroffensive exercises.

North Korea did not respond to Trump's move. But earlier today, the state news agency KCNA published a commentary denouncing the US-South Korean military exercises as "extremely dangerous."