US Cancels Major Joint Marine Exercises With South Korea Due to Middle East Conflict

South Korean marines take part in the US-South Korea amphibious landing drill, in Pohang, on September 2, 2024. South Korea announced that the United States has cancelled a large joint amphibious landing exercise planned for next month, citing force availability constraints resulting from the US-Israel war on Iran.

“The US Marine Corps formally notified our forces in June that its ability to deploy forces during this year’s Ssangyong exercise would be constrained due to the situation in the Middle East,” stated Han Seung-jeon, a spokesman for the South Korean Marine Corps, during a news briefing on Monday.

The biennial Ssangyong drills bring together marine forces from South Korea and the US to enhance combined operations. These exercises typically feature warships, aircraft, and ground forces practicing amphibious landings. Seoul and Washington remain in consultations regarding the resumption of the amphibious exercise, according to the spokesman, though no further details were provided. The Pentagon did not issue an immediate comment.

This announcement follows an unexpected order last week by US President Donald Trump to scale back a separate annual joint military exercise that concluded last Friday. President Trump cited the financial cost and Seoul’s refusal to participate in the war on Iran as reasons for reducing the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises from 11 days down to five.

Additionally, President Trump has worked to restart the relationship he established with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un during his initial term in office. On his Truth Social platform last week, he wrote that the Ulchi Freedom Shield drills transmitted “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.”

Despite the downscaling of the drills, North Korea launched 10 short-range ballistic missiles last week and released a statement criticizing the exercises. Pyongyang has consistently denounced such joint drills, viewing them as rehearsals for an invasion.

President Trump also remarked last week on the importance of maintaining good relations with Kim, noting that Pyongyang currently possesses 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons. In comparison, Seoul estimates that North Korea holds between 80 and 120 such weapons. President Trump met Kim three times during his first term, but North Korea accelerated its nuclear development after their second summit in Hanoi in 2019 ended without an agreement on denuclearisation.