Jane Han is the North America editor for The Korea Times. Based in Seattle, she has covered business, culture and social issues across the United States for over 15 years. She previously worked at The Boston Globe.
US lawmakers push back against Trump's move to cut Korea drills
The American flag waves from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Mar. 1, 2026. Reuters-Yonhap
By Jane Han
SEATTLE — U.S. lawmakers from both parties are pushing back against President Donald Trump’s order to sharply scale back joint military exercises with South Korea, warning that the move could weaken the alliance and benefit U.S. adversaries.
The criticism has come largely from Democrats, but Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina has also publicly challenged Trump’s decision, making the congressional pushback bipartisan.
Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the move “another inane, haphazard decision by President Trump and his chaotic administration.”
“When President Trump cuts military exercises to flatter a dictator or punishes South Korea for declining to join a war he started, all of our allies — and adversaries — think that America’s commitments are negotiable,” Reed said in a statement.
“Kim Jong Un has won a propaganda victory and South Korea, one of our strongest allies, has been punished for no reason beyond Trump’s ego,” he added.
Reed also warned that China and Russia were watching how Washington treats its allies, saying they “will remember it the next time they test us.”
Tillis, meanwhile, emphasized South Korea’s long-standing military alliance with the United States and argued that scaling back exercises could benefit Russia by freeing up North Korean troops to support its war in Ukraine.
“South Korea has been a solid military ally for over 70 years that possesses exquisite military capabilities,” Tillis wrote on X.
“Reducing joint exercises with South Korea does nothing more than free up thousands of North Korea’s troops to support Putin’s systematic kidnapping, torture, rape and murder of innocent Ukrainian citizens,” he said.
Other Democrats have also criticized the decision. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned that reducing the exercises could hurt the allies’ ability to respond together in a crisis.
“North and South Korea are still technically at war,” Kelly said. “Our ability to help defend our ally against the North Koreans is because our forces are well trained and able to coordinate with the South Koreans.”
“Hollowing out these joint exercises is shortsighted and a mistake,” he added.
Trump announced Sunday that he had instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” joint military exercises with South Korea, citing their cost and saying they send an “inappropriate and hostile” signal to North Korea. He also cited his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Trump also linked the decision to South Korea’s refusal to join the U.S. military campaign against Iran, writing that he had recently asked South Korea’s president whether the country wanted to participate and was told, “No thanks!”
The order came hours before South Korea and the U.S. began their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise Monday. The 11-day exercise runs through Aug. 27 and is designed to strengthen the allies’ readiness for contingencies involving North Korea.