South Korea, US To End Joint Drills A Week Early After Trump's Order

Annual war games between South Korea and the United States will end nearly a week earlier than planned, Seoul's military said Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump ordered the "inappropriate and hostile" drills scaled back.

Trump said on Sunday that he had ordered the Pentagon to curtail the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, a day before they got underway.

He cited his good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and said the manouevres, designed to prepare for a possible attack by Pyongyang, were hostile towards a country that had been respectful to him.

North Korean state media criticised the drills on Wednesday as a "most immediate and open threat", without mentioning Trump's order.

Hours later, Seoul's military said the drills would wrap up on Friday, not on August 27 as originally planned. 

"We have decided to adjust the UFS exercise period to run from the 17th to the 21st," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The nuclear-armed North has long voiced outrage at the exercises, considering them dress rehearsals for an invasion.

The commentary by the state-run Korean Central News Agency repeated that position, saying the "drill poses the most immediate and open threat" to North Korea and "regional security".

It did not mention Trump's order or his desire to resume talks with Kim, with whom he hinted at being in contact.

Seoul's presidential office had said on Tuesday the drills did not reflect "any intention to attack North Korea or escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula".

Trump has insisted that he is making the situation "much safer" through his ties with Kim.

The pair met three times in his first spell in the White House, but they have not held talks during his second term.

The United States stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to bolster the country's defences, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

However, Trump's repeated criticism of time-honoured alliances has cast doubt on US commitments to security in East Asia and alarmed regional allies.

Japan's defence minister underlined the "critical" importance of security cooperation with the United States and South Korea on Tuesday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)