SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States are scaling down their annual combined exercise that kicked off earlier this week, with the scheduled field training also set to be reduced, South Korea's military said Wednesday.

The allies agreed to cut short the Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise to Friday, paring down the drills period almost by half, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a release. 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 announcement comes after Trump called for "substantially" scaling down joint South Korea-U.S. military drills in a social media post Sunday (U.S. time), citing a cost burden and his good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

elly@yna.co.kr

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