Trump’s order to scale back military drills rattles Seoul, reviving doubts over US security guarantees and raising calls to rethink South Korea’s stance on Iran war.
Seoul, South Korea – The order arrived not through diplomatic channels but via a post on social media, just hours before the annual joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States were set to begin.
US President Donald Trump, writing on his Truth Social platform, said on Monday that he was directing the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the drills, which he described as sending an “inappropriate and hostile” signal to North Korea.
He added, pointedly, that Seoul had declined to join the US and Israel’s war on Iran.
The announcement caught South Korean officials off guard, landing on a public holiday marking the country’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, and set off a scramble in Seoul and Washington, DC.
The Pentagon said only that it was “actively working on executing” the president’s directive, while in Seoul, General Xavier Brunson, commander of US Forces Korea, met with Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back at the Ministry of Defence. By Wednesday, the two militaries had settled on specifics: The exercise, which was already under way, would be cut from 11 days to five, with the scope of several field training drills scaled back as well.
The developments have sparked anxiety and anger in Seoul, reigniting a debate over the reliability of a security guarantee that South Korea has depended on since the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended not in peace but in an armistice.
They have also spurred calls for Seoul to reconsider its posture towards the US-Israel war on Iran.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has tried to project calm. Addressing his Cabinet on Tuesday, Lee said the US-South Korea alliance remained essential, but he also called for “strengthening” the country’s “self-reliant defence capabilities”.
On Wednesday, he struck a conciliatory tone towards Trump, calling the US president’s decision “deeply infused with deliberations” to end hostility on the Korean Peninsula. In a post on X, he said he “fully empathises” with Trump’s view that Seoul must shoulder its own security and signalled a willingness to help restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz – the energy route that Iran has blockaded – saying his government will continue talks on possible “practical contribution measures”.
In Parliament, Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun told anxious lawmakers that there had been no advance notice of the move. “Neither our government nor US officials knew what President Trump wrote on his Truth Social,” Cho said. “We were not notified in advance.”
Lawmakers on the National Assembly’s defence committee were due to issue a formal response on Thursday, though aides told Al Jazeera the atmosphere around the issue was “too sensitive at the moment” to discuss.
On social media, reactions ranged from frustration to open anger.
“We can’t trust everything Trump says,” South Korean user Kim Won-tak wrote on Instagram.
Another user, Choi Min, said: “The US prioritizes practical benefits over loyalty to allies. They do it to Europe as well. We can’t get rid of our dependence on the US right away, but we should work towards self-reliance.”