US, South Korea to Shorten Duration of Joint Exercises — Reports
U.S. soldier from the 2nd Infantry Division competes in an air assault and STX lanes during the best squad competition at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Thursday, May 4, 2023. 
South Korea and the United States have decided to shorten the duration of the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) joint military exercises from 11 to five days at the suggestion of the US side, and to halve the number of field training sessions, the KBS broadcaster reported citing South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The exercises, which started on Monday, were originally scheduled to last until August 27. A decision was also made to partially shorten the joint field maneuvers (FTX), the parties are currently coordinating specific details, the JCS said. According to the broadcaster, the reduction will affect most of the planned field exercises, despite the fact that this year there were already fewer of them, 14 instead of 17. More than half of the 14 planned joint field exercises are expected to be cut, it added. The Joint Chiefs of Staff also reported that the Joint Command was conducting exercises using two wartime command posts — CP TANGO and Camp Humphreys. As the channel noted, during UFS, the Joint Command’s command post was typically located only at CP TANGO, but this time, the US side reportedly insisted on using Camp Humphreys as well. The broadcaster attributes the decision to reduce the exercises to US President Donald Trump’s recent order to reduce the scale of joint US-South Korean maneuvers. On August 16, Trump said on Truth Social, that given his «very good relationship» with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, he disliked the United States’ long-standing agreement to participate in joint military exercises with South Korea. According to KBS, Trump said he had instructed US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to significantly reduce the scale of the two countries’ joint exercises.
