U.S. Marines cancel Ssangyong drill with South Korea over Iran war

South Korea's marine corps said the United States axed a military exercise scheduled for September.

Washington cited limitations on its forces brought on by the war with Iran.

Han Seung-jeon said the U.S. Marine Corps notified Seoul in June that it could not deploy for Ssangyong because of the Middle East.

Han said Seoul and Washington were still consulting on resuming the amphibious exercise.

Ssangyong is a large-scale combined exercise held every two years.

The drills typically use warships, aircraft and ground forces to rehearse amphibious landings.

It involves division-level units from both countries and assault landing ship task forces.

The U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet says Ssangyong means two dragons, for South Korea and the United States.

The exercise has drawn particularly sharp objections from North Korea.

The exercise was last conducted in 2024.

The Pentagon and other U.S. commands did not comment by publication time.

Ulchi Freedom Shield was cut from 11 days to five.

The cancellation follows Trump's Aug. 16 order to pare back another joint exercise that ended Aug. 21.

Trump cited Seoul's refusal to support Washington in its war with Iran.

Trump said his relationship with Kim Jong Un made him question large-scale military exercises.

Trump said the exercises were costly and that much of the cost is borne by the United States.

Trump said the drills sent a totally inappropriate and hostile signal toward North Korea, which he called unthreatening.

Trump said Pyongyang now had 57 very powerful nuclear weapons.

Seoul estimates North Korea has 80 to 120 nuclear weapons.

Trump met Kim three times during his first term.

Pyongyang accelerated its nuclear programmes after the 2019 Hanoi summit collapsed.

South Korea's joint chiefs said the missiles were launched from the capital region at about 5 p.m. on Aug. 20.

U.S. Forces Korea did not respond to a request for comment.