South Korea and the US have completed a joint maritime exercise in the East Sea aimed at strengthening their interoperability, the South Korean navy said on Thursday.
The exercise participants practised amphibious landings, manoeuvres in the high seas and combating air threats. Four ships were involved in the exercise, including two landing ships, the South Korean Marado and the US Boxer, as well as South Korean destroyers Admiral Lee Soon-shin and Yang Man-chun.
The US landing ship Boxer is called a “small aircraft carrier” because it can carry about 40 aircraft, including F-35B stealth fighters. It was also involved in an earlier SsangYong exercise involving the South Korean and US navies and marines. Capt. Kim Kyung-ho, commodore of Amphibious Squadron 53 of the South Korean Navy, said:
“The two navies will improve our ability to carry out combined operations and interoperability and sternly respond to any form of provocations from the enemy.”
The joint exercise came a day after the South Korean military demonstrated its military might on the 76th anniversary of the founding of the country’s armed forces by displaying the new Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile for the first time.
Speaking at the ceremony, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol warned that North Korea would face the end of its regime if Pyongyang tries to use nuclear weapons against his country.
On Wednesday, local media reported that South Korea had struck a deal with Poland to buy suicide drones amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Last month, North Korea publicly disclosed a uranium enrichment facility for the first time, Yonhap news agency reported, as leader Kim Jong Un called for an expansion of the country’s nuclear capabilities.
