S. Korea, U.S. Marines hold large-scale joint drill

Marines of South Korea and the United States are staging a large-scale command post exercise on and around the Korean Peninsula to check and further boost their joint combat capabilities, the Marine Corps here said Thursday.

Some 500 South Korean Marines and 1,700 American troops from III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) stationed in Okinawa, Japan, began their exercise on Wednesday, which is to be staged until Sunday, in the southeastern city of Pohang, the city of Osan, just south of Seoul, and the Japanese city.

Through the exercise, the second of its kind, the two nations will "discuss how to respond to major contingencies under a variety of scenarios," the Marine Corps said in a statement.

"We employ the new standard operating procedure that elaborates on the Combined Marine Component Command (CMCC)'s duties, structure and operations," it said.

The new procedure was adopted after an agreement between Lt. Gen. Lee Young-ju, commandant of the South Korean Marine Corps, and Lt. Gen. John Wissler, the commanding general of III MEF, on Wednesday, according to officers.

III MEF is one of the Marine Air-Ground Task Forces of the U.S. Marine Corps, which is able to deploy rapidly to conduct amphibious assaults and high-intensity combat operations.

"This exercise is a chance for the two nations' Marine Corps commandants and senior officials to test their joint operations capabilities," Lee said. "We could confirm that the South Korean and American Marines are key to the defense of the Korean Peninsula and the axis of the alliance."

After the exercise, the Marines and sailors of the allies plan to stage a joint landing drill -- known as Ssangyong in South Korea and the Korean Marine Exchange Program (KMEP) in the U.S. -- at the end of this month in Pohang.

Some 1,000 U.S. Marines and 3,000 South Koreans are to take part in the drill set to begin on March 28 until April 1, together with 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, U.S. Naval Forces Korea spokesman Arlo Abrahamson said in a statement.

The landing drill "is designed to strengthen our interoperability in amphibious operations between the U.S. and ROK Forces, which contributes to the security and stability on the Korean Peninsula as well as the entire Asia-Pacific region," the spokesman said. (Yonhap)