The United States cancelled a joint amphibious landing drill with South Korea scheduled for next month, citing military force constraints driven by the ongoing war in Iran, according to Seoul’s Marine Corps. The decision follows President Donald Trump’s order to sharply scale back separate annual exercises over costs and Seoul’s refusal to join the conflict.
The cancelled division-level exercise, known as Ssangyong, was formally pulled from the calendar after the U.S. Marine Corps notified its South Korean counterpart in June about shrinking force availability. A South Korean Marine Corps spokesperson told a press briefing that the allies remain in close consultations on resuming the drills, though the spokesperson did not specify what measures might be taken to prevent future cancellations or to make up for lost training opportunities. U.S. Forces Korea did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The cancellation follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprise order to scale back a separate annual joint military exercise that ended last Friday, citing the cost and Seoul’s refusal to take part in the Iran war. Trump also 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.
U.S. Cuts Ulchi Freedom Shield Exercises Amid Iran Friction
The amphibious exercise cancellation compounds a broader drawdown of military cooperation ordered from Washington. President Trump announced Sunday that he had directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to substantially reduce
joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, citing his “very good” relationship with North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. The annual U.S.-South Korea Ulchi Freedom Shield began on Monday, and an official from the South Korean Ministry of Defense told ABC News that the military exercise now underway will be carried on as planned.
South Korea is a longtime U.S. ally and hosts roughly 28,500 American troops.
Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea,
Trump wrote on his social media platform. Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!
The American leader also complained publicly that South Korea declined to participate in Washington’s military campaign against Iran. Last winter, Donald Trump plunged into war with Iran, and the United States is now losing that conflict while U.S. military resources are overextended and munition stores are dangerously depleted.
Readiness Concerns and Shortened Drills in Seoul
In response to Washington’s directives, the South Korean and U.S. militaries agreed to shorten their drills at the U.S.’s request, South Korean officials said Wednesday. The allies’ summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises began Monday morning for an 11-day run, just after Trump ordered his Pentagon chief to substantially reduce
them. South Korea’s military said in a statement that the ongoing drills with the U.S. would end Friday, not Aug. 27 as initially planned, and that the allies also agreed to downsize some joint field training exercises. The statement noted that South Korea and the U.S. will discuss and carry out various steps to achieve objectives of their drills and establish combined defense postures.
Many experts say Trump’s move threatens to hurt combined U.S.-South Korean readiness and eventually weaken their decades-long alliance. Ulchi Freedom Shield is largely a computer-simulated command post exercise meant to hone the allies’ ability to deal with potential regional security threats like North Korean aggression, with the two countries usually holding field training exercises during the command post exercise period as a central pillar of the bilateral alliance.
Regional Tensions Shift
The South Korean and U.S. militaries agreed to shorten their drills at the U.S.’s request in a move that likely reflected President Donald Trump’s hopes to reengage with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un but that could undermine U.S.-South Korean defense readiness.
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