South Korea says another military drill with US canceled due to Middle East operations

South Korea has confirmed the cancellation of its latest joint military exercise with the United States, citing a shortage of US troops due to operations in the Middle East, Bloomberg reports.

The Ssangyong exercise, which was scheduled for September and is held every two years, will not take place as planned.

The US military command informed Seoul that it was unable to deploy troops for the exercise due to the situation in the Persian Gulf region.

This marks the second significant reduction in the scale of joint military exercises between the two countries recently. Earlier, US President Donald Trump ordered the scale of another exercise to be reduced. That drill ended on Aug. 21, a week earlier than originally scheduled.

Washington attributed that decision to its desire to maintain dialogue with North Korea, as well as Seoul’s reluctance to assist the United States in the conflict with Iran. However, a South Korean official clarified that the Ssangyong exercise had been postponed rather than canceled outright.

According to the official, the armed forces of the two countries continue to hold consultations on the possibility of resuming the exercise in the future.