South Korean Marines launch five-day joint drills on western border islands

This week the Marine Corps Command and the Northwest Islands Defense Command started a five-day joint training operation on the western islands that border North Korea, such as Baeknyeong and Yeonpyeong. About 6,000 personnel and key assets are engaged to verify integrated defence capabilities against complex provocations, including artillery fire, high-speed aircraft, cruise missiles and suicide drones. The manoeuvre is incorporated into the broader Hoguk annual exercise, which also sees participation from U.S. forces.

As part of the drills, the Air Force conducted interception scenarios, scrambling F-15K and KF-16 fighters and deploying Cheongung surface-to-air missiles against simulated clusters of radar tracks. Ground-based air-defence missile systems, Navy destroyers and frigates, and Army air-defence units also joined the operations to reflect modern warfare tactics.