US cancels joint marine drills with South Korea over Iran war-related force constraints

The United States canceled a joint amphibious landing drill scheduled for next month with South Korea, Seoul’s Marine Corps said on Monday, after Washington cited constraints on the availability of U.S. forces due to the war in Iran.

The U.S. Marine Corps formally notified its South Korean counterpart in June that force availability would be constrained for the division-level exercise, known as Ssangyong, a South Korean Marine Corps spokesperson told a press briefing.

The allies remain in close consultations on resuming the drills, the spokesperson said. He did not specify what measures might be taken to prevent future cancelations or to make up for lost training opportunities.

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

Later on Monday, the U.S. State Department said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun about a “range of issues” in their alliance.

Rubio told his South Korean counterpart that Washington and Seoul need to remain in close coordination on matters integral to their alliance, according to a State Department statement.

The cancelation of the amphibious landing drill 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.” Despite the reduction of the exercises, Pyongyang fired 10 short-range ballistic missiles last week and issued a statement denouncing the exercises.

North Korea has long condemned such joint exercises as rehearsals for invasion.

美国取消了原定于下个月与韩国举行的联合两栖登陆演习。韩国海军陆战队周一表示，取消演习的原因是华盛顿方面以伊朗战争导致美军兵力有限为由。

韩国海军陆战队发言人在新闻发布会上表示，美国海军陆战队已于6月正式通知韩国海军陆战队，在名为“双龙”的师级演习中，兵力可用性将受到限制。

发言人表示，盟军仍在就恢复演习进行密切磋商。但他没有具体说明将采取哪些措施来防止未来再次取消演习或弥补损失的训练机会。

驻韩美军尚未对此事作出回应。

周一晚些时候，美国国务院表示，国务卿马可·卢比奥与韩国外长赵显铉就两国联盟中的“一系列问题”进行了交谈。

据美国国务院声明，卢比奥告诉韩国外长，华盛顿和首尔需要在对两国联盟至关重要的问题上保持密切协调。

在取消两栖登陆演习之前，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普出人意料地下令缩减另一项年度联合军事演习的规模，该演习于上周五结束，理由是成本过高以及首尔拒绝参与伊朗战争。

特朗普还在其“真相社交”平台上发文称，乙支“自由之盾”演习向一个“自唐纳德·J·特朗普担任总统以来一直对美国不构成威胁且尊重有加的国家发出了完全不恰当且充满敌意的信号”。尽管演习规模有所缩减，平壤上周仍发射了10枚短程弹道导弹，并发表声明谴责此次演习。

朝鲜长期以来一直谴责此类联合军演是入侵演习。