This file photo provided by South Korean Marine Corps shows Korean soldiers participating in annual multilateral exercise, KAMANDAG, in the Philippines in 2024. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 13 (Korea Bizwire) – The South Korean Marine Corps will hold its first-ever joint drill with the Japanese army in the Philippines next month, foreign media reports said Tuesday.
The joint exercise will take place during KAMANDAG, an international military exercise in the Philippines, slated for June, according to Kyodo News Agency and NHK.
It will mark the first time the Marine Corps and Japan’s Self-Defense Ground Forces (JSDFG) hold a combined drill though they have been participating in the annual exercise.
According to the reports, the combined drill will simulate a scenario where Korean Marines and the JSDFG board boats operated by the Filipino military for search and rescue operation in case of tsunamis.
The Japanese self-defense forces reportedly said the upcoming drill comes as a follow-up measure to a trilateral agreement between Seoul, Tokyo and Washington on security cooperation signed last year.
In July, the defense chiefs of the three countries signed a document on the Trilateral Security Cooperation Framework, institutionalizing joint efforts for security cooperation, including policy principles for areas of high-level policy consultations, information sharing and trilateral drills.
(Yonhap)
