S. Korean, U.S. marines to hold massive landing exercise

By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States will hold a massive
landing exercise next month, involving over 8,000 troops and some 70 amphibious
assault vehicles, the South Korean Marine Corps said Wednesday.
Some 2,000 U.S. marines from the 31st U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit based in
Okinawa, Japan, will come to the country to join what will be one of the largest
joint landing exercises in the country's history, it said.
"Through the upcoming exercise, the Marine Corps seeks to develop the command
capabilities of the of the two countries' Combined Marine Component Command while
working to establish an effective network of cooperation among command-level
units," the Marine Corps said in a press release.
The exercise will be held throughout next week in the southeastern city of Pohang
while a large-scale landing maneuver will be conducted next Thursday, it said.
The exercise will also involve over 30 attack and utility helicopters and 27
naval ships.
The massive landing exercise comes as Gen. Walter Sharp, the commander of U.S.
Forces Korea and the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC), ordered the
CFC in July to conduct a division-size amphibious drill.
"Gen. Sharp said the countries needed to show North Korea that (our) combined
forces are well capable of conducting such a large-scale amphibious operation," a
source told Yonhap News Agency.
Amphibious operations on the Korean peninsula were proven highly effective during
the 1950-53 Korean War, when a joint operation of some 70,000 U.S. troops and
some 8,000 South Korean forces took part in the famed Incheon landing in 1950,
which turned the tide of the war for the first time in South Korea's favor.
The upcoming joint exercise is to be held as part of a regular drill for South
Korean troops, known as the Hoguk Exercise, which will last from Thursday to next
Sunday, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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