Key S. Korea-U.S. military drills begin amid OPCON transition push - Yonhap News Agency

On 17 August 2026, South Korea and the US began the Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercise, hours after Trump ordered the Pentagon to 'substantially' reduce joint exercises with South Korea. Trump cited his 'very good relationship' with Kim Jong Un and called the drills 'hostile' and 'inappropriate'. The BBC and Times of Israel linked the decision to US anger that South Korea stayed out of the Iran war. Yonhap described the drills as beginning amid a push to transfer wartime operational control (OPCON).

South Korea said it will 'coordinate closely' with the US, and France 24 reported that the two countries began the drills despite Trump's call to scale back. TASS reported the exercises were being conducted as planned. Reuters wrote that Trump was reviving earlier objections to the drills, and experts quoted by Global Times said the order signals an intention to ease tension on the Korean Peninsula and return to 'direct diplomacy' with Pyongyang.