U.S. cancels joint marine drill with South Korea as Iran war strains forces

The US has cancelled a large-scale, joint amphibious landing drill with South Korea scheduled for next month, saying it was forced to do so because of constraints imposed on US forces as a result of the war in Iran. The decision has heightened concern over Washington’s dedication to its allies in Asia.

South Korea’s Marine Corps said the US Marine Corps informed them in June that they would have limited force availability for their division-level “Ssangyong” (meaning ‘Two Long’) exercises that feature amphibious operations intended to increase the readiness of both nations’ forces.

Last week, President Donald Trump announced he was substantially scaling down another annual joint exercise between his nation and its ally on the peninsula. He made this decision after weighing up the costs of those exercises alongside Seoul’s refusal to take part in US military action against Iran.

But these developments also raise worries across US allies in the region that military assets shifted to fight in the Middle East could hamper efforts to establish deterrence elsewhere. Partners like Japan and Taiwan have been watching closely amid widespread questions about US security commitments.

Long an enemy of the United States, North Korea has consistently denounced joint US-South Korean exercises as a prelude to invasion, Reuters reports. It reacted strongly to the reduced scale of current drills, conducting a series of missile launches and issuing criticism.