3 U.S. ships to visit S. Korea for joint landing drill

South Korea and the United States plan to stage a joint landing drill here late this month, with three U.S. amphibious ships participating, officers said Wednesday.

Starting at the end of this month, the Marine Corps and the navies of the two nations are scheduled to hold the annual landing drill of Ssangyong in South Korea's southern port city of Pohang "to boost capabilities of conducting the full spectrum of a combined arms, amphibious landing operation," a military officer said.

Though the exact scale of the planned exercise is not known, officers say some 1,000 U.S. Marines and 3,000 South Koreans are to take part in the drill, which is expected to last less than a week, together with the three U.S. amphibious vessels.

"The U.S. plans to send the 25,000-ton USS Green Bay transport dock, the 41,000-ton USS Bonhomme Richard assault ship and the 15,000-ton USS Ashland dock landing ship for the exercise," another officer said.

The Green Bay, which takes on the design for stealth capabilities, is able to deliver a fully equipped battalion of 800 Marines. It is the first time that the San Antonio-class ship has taken part in the joint drill.

"The U.S. have dispatched its amphibious ships in the landing drill before," the officer said, noting the Bonhomme Richard came to Korea for last year's exercise.

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