South Korea-US drill cancelled over Iran war, Seoul says

South Korea said on Monday that the United States had cancelled a large joint amphibious landing exercise scheduled for next month because the war with Iran had constrained US force availability.

Han Seung-jeon, a spokesman for the South Korean Marine Corps, told reporters that the US Marine Corps formally notified South Korean forces in June that its ability to deploy forces for this year's Ssangyong exercise would be constrained because of the situation in the Middle East.

The biennial Ssangyong drills involve marine forces from South Korea and the United States and are meant to strengthen combined operations. They typically involve warships, aircraft and ground forces rehearsing amphibious landings.

Han said Seoul and Washington were continuing consultations on resuming the exercise, without giving details. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Seoul's announcement.

The cancellation follows US President Donald Trump's order last week to scale down the separate annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises from 11 days to five. Trump cited their high cost and said they sent an “inappropriate and hostile” signal to North Korea, while highlighting his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump said Wednesday that it was important to “get along” with Kim and said Pyongyang had 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons. Seoul estimates that North Korea has around 80 to 120 such weapons.

Trump and Kim met three times during Trump's first term, but Pyongyang accelerated its nuclear programmes after their second summit in Hanoi in 2019 ended without an agreement on North Korea's denuclearisation.