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The practical weight of a bilateral military alliance rests on joint exercises.
Written commitments and treaty language don't maintain combat interoperability; exercises do, and the annual bilateral cadences between United States and South Korean forces are the mechanism that keeps two separate militaries capable of operating as a coordinated unit when it matters.
On Sunday, President Trump announced he has directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to "substantially reduce" those drills, a move that cuts at that readiness structure.
The exercises in question are known as Ulchi Freedom Shield. They have run under that name annually since 2022, though the summertime bilateral exercises they grew from predate that branding by decades.
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