Washington Should Not Reduce Military Exercises With South Korea

President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Defense to “substantially reduce” military exercises between the U.S. and South Korean militaries on Sunday. These regularly occurring combined exercises enhance the readiness and interoperability of U.S. and South Korean armed forces and increase their ability to deter and, if necessary, defeat North Korea. Reducing the scope or frequency of these exercises, or ending them altogether, will erode the alliance’s readiness, undermine deterrence, and increase the risk of North Korean aggression against American and allied troops and civilians on the Korean Peninsula.

Exercises Bolster U.S. and South Korean Combat Power

American and South Korean combined exercises ensure that the militaries of both countries can operate together from the command level down to the squad level. The ability to integrate processes and procedures while overcoming obstacles that inevitably emerge in combat situations is especially important given the difficulty of working across language barriers. Combined military operations in wartime will be less effective if the allies fail to train together in peacetime.

Two large U.S. and South Korean combined military exercises are held each year. Freedom Shield and Ulchi Freedom Shield are comprehensive exercises typically beginning in spring and summer, respectively. The current iteration of Ulchi Freedom Shield began on Monday, August 17. Other exercises regularly take place as well, but they are generally smaller and not as comprehensive. U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) states that the two central exercises are defensive in nature and are intended to, in part, validate combined readiness levels and improve communication and coordination between U.S. and South Korean forces. In addition to providing indispensable training opportunities, the exercises send an important deterrent message to America and South Korea’s shared enemy — North Korea.

North Korea Is the Aggressor

Despite South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s attempts to bring stability by proposing peace talks and aiming to secure a nuclear-free peninsula, North Korea continues to ramp up its aggression. The North has not reciprocated any of the South’s repeated gestures of reconciliation and peace since Lee took charge in June 2025. Earlier this year, Pyongyang removed all references to reunification with Seoul from its constitution. On August 14, the Kim regime denounced the upcoming Ulchi Freedom Shield. The Trump administration’s echoing of Pyongyang’s stance on U.S.-South Korea exercises is likely to embolden Kim instead of deterring him.  

These developments come amid a North Korean military buildup. This buildup has included launching two nuclear-armed destroyers, hardening southern border defenses, updating and expanding military bases, improving ballistic missile accuracy with Russian help, and modernizing the North Korean Army’s tactics based on lessons learned by veterans of Russia’s war against Ukraine. The danger from Pyongyang is growing due to Russian assistance modernizing North Korea’s military capabilities, which increases the probability they could be used against the United States and South Korea.

Strong Alliances Are Needed

Instead of reducing the size and frequency of combined exercises with South Korea, the Trump administration should expand them and work to integrate Japanese forces into the combined exercises at all levels as well. This will strengthen combined deterrence against North Korean aggression and make it less likely that a future conflict breaks out.

On Capitol Hill, Congress should oppose any efforts to reduce U.S. military posture on the peninsula, making clear that it expects the administration to fully follow Section 1255 of the fiscal year (FY) 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which is designed to limit troop reductions on the peninsula. Congress should also require reports on both Russia-North Korea security cooperation and whether U.S. war plans on the peninsula account for growing North Korean capabilities.

Trump should also include the South Korean president in any negotiations he might undertake with Kim Jong Un. He should also convene a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and South Korea’s Lee to reaffirm U.S.-Japan-South Korea trilateral security cooperation. These steps would signal that Washington has the political will and military capabilities to punish and defeat any aggression from North Korea.

Logan Rolleigh is a research assistant for the Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Ryan Brobst is the deputy director of CMPP. For more analysis from the authors and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD and @FDD_CMPP. Follow Logan on X @L_Rolleigh and Ryan on X @RyanBrobst_. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.