S. Korea, U.S. kick off large-scale maritime drill

South Korea and the United States launched a large-scale joint maritime field training exercise on Friday to strengthen interoperability in amphibious operations between the allies' forces, the Navy here said Friday.

The five-day war game in South Korea's southern port city of Pohang is part of the allies' annual landing drill -- known as Ssangyong in South Korea and the Korean Marine Exchange Program in the U.S. -- that began on Monday.

For the maneuvers, some 7,600 marines and sailors of the two nations, and about 30 naval vessels, 80 aircraft and 40 armored vehicles are to be mobilized, according to the Navy.

"Among them are three U.S. amphibious ships -- the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard, the amphibious transport dock ship USS Green Bay and the Whidbey Island-class amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland," the Navy said.

Under a variety of scenarios of enemies' threats, the troops will practice maritime reconnaissance, infiltration as well as large-scale gunfire exercises, the Navy said.

In a move to boost the allies' interoperability, a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey assault support aircraft has conducted take-off and landing drills on South Korea's Landing Platform Helicopter ship (LPH-6111) Dokdo, according to the Navy.

"The maritime maneuvers are expected to boost the capabilities of conducting the full spectrum of a combined amphibious landing operation," the Navy said.

The Ssangyong exercise is part of the ongoing Seoul-Washington field training exercise Foal Eagle, which began March 2 and runs until April 24 and involves a set of land, sea and air maneuvers by 200,000 Korean and 3,700 American troops. (Yonhap)