InternationalMonday, 17 August 2026·The Hindu - International
Trump orders 11-day US–South Korea drills to be cut; 18,000 troops and North Korea tensions in focus
In August 2026, Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce planned 11-day joint exercises with South Korea involving 18,000 soldiers.
Key highlights
Direct fact
In August 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce the planned 11-day joint military exercises with South Korea, which involved 18,000 South Korean soldiers and were due to begin that week.
Key specifics
- The exercises were planned for 11 days and involved 18,000 South Korean soldiers.
- Trump said the drills were “costly” and “hostile” to North Korea in a post on August 16, 2026.
- The U.S. military said the drills included live-fire precision targeting, manoeuvre practice, wet gap crossing and prepositioned equipment distribution.
- Trump met North Korea’s Kim Jong Un three times in his first term, most recently in 2019.
- North Korea’s Foreign Ministry called the training “a rehearsal for an aggressive war”.
Exam lens
Question type: International relations and defence exercises, key facts: August 2026, Donald Trump, South Korea, 11-day drills, 18,000 troops, Kim Jong Un, 2019. TNPSC may ask which country’s joint military exercise was scaled back and why it mattered for regional security.