U.S. cancels joint drills with South Korea amid Iran war

The United States cancelled a joint amphibious landing drill scheduled for next month with South Korea, Seoul’s Marine Corps said, citing constraints on U.S. forces linked to the war in Iran and following earlier U.S. moves to scale back exercises.

Seoul said the U.S. Marine Corps formally notified its South Korean counterpart in June that force availability would be constrained for the division-level exercise Ssangyong.

South Korea’s Marine Corps spokesperson said the allies remain in close consultations on resuming the drills but did not specify what measures could prevent future cancellations or make up for lost training time.

The cancellation came after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a separate annual joint military exercise to be scaled back, ending last Friday, citing cost and Seoul’s refusal to take part in the Iran war.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that the Ulchi Freedom Shield drills sent “a signal that was totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful.”

North Korea has long condemned such joint exercises as rehearsals for invasion, and the North issued a statement denouncing the drills after U.S. reductions.

Earlier, North Korea fired 10 short-range ballistic missiles last week, after which South Korea and Japan issued public alerts, according to Japanese reporting.

Japanese officials said U.S. decisions risk undermining confidence in security commitments as Tokyo negotiates with Washington over how much Japan should pay to host U.S. forces.

Itsunori Onodera said the prospect that Trump’s push to meet Kim could embolden North Korea would be “extremely troubling” for Tokyo.

Japan official discussions also pointed to possible use of upcoming U.S. exercises with Japan in October as leverage, while Tokyo and Washington said they did not expect the exercises to be curtailed.

In Taipei, defense officials said they expected Washington to split a $14 billion arms sales package to Taiwan into smaller chunks to avoid upsetting Xi amid a summit with Trump in Washington next month.