S.Korea, US to start major amphibious landing exercise this week

Seoul, Aug 25 : South Korea and the US will begin their large-scale amphibious landing exercise in the southeastern city of Pohang and the eastern coast this week to build up the allies' combat readiness posture and interoperability, the South's Navy and Marine Corps said on Sunday.

This year's Ssangyong (double dragon) exercise, which runs from Monday through September 7, will mobilise division-level landing forces and some 40 vessels, including two amphibious assault ships, the ROKS Dokdo and the ROKS Marado, as well as the USS Boxer, according to military officials.

The drills will also bring together some 40 aircraft, such as F-35B radar-evading jets, and around 40 amphibious assault vehicles, the Navy and Marine Corps said in a joint statement, Yonhap news agency reported.

Beginning this year, the allies' Marine Corps will organise a combined staff group, which will jointly lead the landing exercise aboard the ROKS Marado, they added.

A joint military command overseeing drone operations, launched in September last year, will participate in the Ssangyong exercise for the first time and conduct surveillance activities deploying drones.

Also joining the exercise will be Britain's Royal Marines Commandos, marking their participation in the drills for a second consecutive year.

In accordance with the exercise plan, the allies are scheduled to stage the "decisive action" phase of the exercise early next month, which will bring together the participating troops, landing ships, fighters and choppers to display their "overwhelming" capabilities for the landing exercise.

The allies resumed the Ssangyong exercise for the first time in five years in March 2023.

It had not been held since 2018 amid the preceding Moon Jae-in administration's drive for inter-Korean rapprochement.