POHANG, South Korea, Sept. 2 (UPI) — The United States and South Korea conducted major amphibious assault drills Monday, storming a beach in the southeastern city of Pohang with heavy machinery and dozens of troops in an exercise meant to counter growing North Korean threats.
The show of force was part of the allies’ 13-day Ssangyong, or Double Dragon, landing exercise, which began last week and runs through Saturday.
Monday’s drills entailed division-level landing forces deployed on more than 40 vessels, including massive South Korean transport ships ROKS Dokdo and Marado and the U.S. amphibious assault ship USS Boxer.
More than 40 aircraft and 40 amphibious assault vehicles also took part in maneuvers that “showcase the overwhelming power of the alliance and its capability to carry out combined amphibious operations,” the U.S. Navy said in a statement.
During a session open to the media, U.S. F-35B stealth jets and AH-1Z attack helicopters soared overhead and a bombing campaign was simulated along the coast before waves of amphibious assault vehicles rolled onto a beach in Pohang, some 170 miles south of Seoul.
As South Korean marines established positions, paratroopers dropped from C-130 transport planes. A company-level British commando unit joined the exercise for the second year in a row, while a combined staff of South Korean and U.S. officers led the drills for the first time.
“Rehearsing this kind of combined joint forcible entry training with an amphibious landing, then follow-on operations, is very important because of how complex they are,” U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Gabriel Tiggs, executive officer of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, told reporters on the beach. “The defense of the Korean Peninsula depends on our ROK-U.S. forces to continuously work together, shoulder to shoulder.”
The Republic of Korea is the official name of South Korea.
The drills come as tensions remain high on the peninsula, with North Korea maintaining a steady stream of weapons tests and hostile rhetoric.
Last week, Pyongyang unveiled new “suicide” attack drones and an upgraded multiple rocket launcher — short-range weapons that threaten targets such as Seoul, the South Korean capital located only 30 miles away from the border with the North.
The Ssangyong drills follow on the heels of the 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield joint exercise, which the allies wrapped up on Thursday.
Pyongyang frequently condemns the joint drills as preparation for an invasion and maintains that its own nuclear and weapons programs are a necessary form of deterrence.
