ISTANBUL

South Korea will reschedule parts of its joint military drills with the US amid criticism from North Korea, army officials said Thursday in Seoul.

The two military allies will conduct the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise between Aug. 18 and 28, but nearly half of its 40 planned exercises will be delayed to next month, according to Yonhap News.

The development comes as South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung’s administration seeks to improve its long-strained relations with Pyongyang and restore inter-Korean cooperation.

"The iteration of the UFS '25 will be executed on a similar scale to the previous iteration," army spokesman Col. Lee Sung-jun told a news conference, announcing that nearly 18,000 South Korean personnel will take part in the drills.

However, the military has made the decision to reschedule certain training events to next month, Lee said.

This year’s drills come amid North Korea’s criticism of the joint South Korea-US exercises, with accusations that Seoul is “blindly adhering” to its alliance with Washington.

Earlier, South Korea's Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said he will suggest to President Lee that some exercises be adjusted, as well as possibly delaying parts of the drill.

South Korea hosts more than 28,500 US troops under a bilateral defense treaty as the inter-Korean war of the 1950s ended in an armistice, not a ceasefire, keeping the divided Koreas technically at war.