South Korea’s military pushed back against a local media report claiming it had drastically reduced live-fire training exercises and rejected suggestions the cuts were driven by the current government’s conciliatory stance toward North Korea.

“The claim that we reduced live-fire exercises out of consideration for North Korea is completely false,” the ROK air force said in a post on X, while accusing the news report of distorting the reasons behind the cuts.

The denial came hours after the South Korean daily Chosun Ilbopublished an exclusive report early Wednesday, citing military data from main opposition People Power Party (PPP)