(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; UPDATES with more info, background throughout, minor edits)

By Kim Seung-yeon and Song Sang-ho

SEOUL/WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States are scaling down their annual combined exercise at Washington's request, the allies said Wednesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered reducing the drills that North Korea could see as "hostile."

The allies will conclude the Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise Friday, cutting the 11-day duration nearly in half, according to Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the U.S. Defense Department. The UFS was scheduled to run from Aug. 17-27.

Field training exercises, a core part of the drills, will also be reduced to some extent, with discussions under way between the two militaries to decide on the detailed plans, the JCS said.

The Pentagon said it has "substantially" reduced the exercise, with associated live-training events reduced and certain events canceled or converted to simulations.

However, the department said the downsizing does not mean a weakening of the allies' military capabilities.

"These adjustments preserve essential readiness and training objectives. There will be no degradation to U.S. training objectives," a Pentagon official said.

The announcement comes after Trump called for scaling down joint South Korea-U.S. military drills in a social media post on Sunday (U.S. time), citing a cost burden and his good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Trump also said the exercises send a "totally inappropriate and hostile" signal to Pyongyang.

The UFS is one of the two major theater-level combined exercises the allies conduct annually to train for contingencies against North Korea.

While it is primarily a simulation-based command post exercise (CPX), often dubbed "war games," the drills also include major field maneuvers (FTX) across land, sea and air.

The allies typically carry out defensive operations in the first week of the UFS, with the second phase more focused on counterattack scenarios against enemy aggression.

Speaking to reporters shortly after the announcement, Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said that the allies were canceling the second phase of the exercise.

"We appear to be leaning toward cancellation," he said.

Signs of adjustments to the schedule emerged Tuesday as U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson, who doubles as the Combined Forces Command (CFC) commander, made an unannounced visit to the defense ministry in Seoul for a meeting with Ahn.

The CFC, the allies' warfighting command, is already conducting the exercise out of two separate command posts -- at the wartime CP Tango bunker in Seongnam and at Camp Humphreys, the main U.S. base in Pyeongtaek, some 50 kilometers south of the capital -- the JCS said.

Camp Humphreys serves as the CFC's peacetime headquarters. Having split the command posts reflects the readjustment in the scope of the UFS.

The allies had planned to carry out 14 field maneuvers at the battalion level or above during this year's UFS, but those are also being scaled down.

The allies are reportedly in talks to either hold the live drills separately or have South Korea conduct them independently. Some field training could also be postponed to a later date, sources familiar with the matter said.

"South Korea and the U.S. agreed to discuss and carry out various measures going forward to achieve the objectives of the UFS exercise and establish a robust combined defense posture," the JCS said.

The scaling back of the UFS poses a dilemma for Seoul as it seeks to use the exercise to validate its capabilities to lead the combined forces once it retakes wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington.

South Korea wants to expedite the OPCON transition process by concluding the second phase of the three-stage conditions-based transition plan agreed upon with the U.S. and setting a target timeline by the end of this year.

The reduction of the drills could undermine Seoul's efforts to accelerate the OPCON transition, a setback for the Lee Jae Myung administration, which aims for the transfer before its five-year term ends in June 2030.

Asked by reporters about its impact on the OPCON transfer, Ahn dismissed such concerns, saying that the evaluation of South Korea's readiness linked to the OPCON handover takes place during the first week of the exercise.

The defense ministry also downplayed concerns the scaled-back drills would weaken deterrence against North Korea.

The allies scaled back their joint drills in 2019 during Trump's first term, when the high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with Pyongyang was at its peak. But that decision was reached based on bilateral consultations, unlike this week's unilateral request from Washington.

Wednesday's announcement comes amid growing speculation for a resumption of dialogue between Trump and Kim.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Trump is pushing for another in-person meeting with Kim this fall, possibly during his trip to China where he is expected to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

North Korea has decried the allies' exercises as rehearsals for invasion and conducted its own weapons tests in apparent protest. South Korea and the U.S. have stressed that the drills are defensive in nature.

elly@yna.co.kr

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