SEOUL, - South Korea and the United States carried out a combined special operations exercise focusing on improving interoperability, the U.S. military announced on Wednesday. The exercise comes amid ongoing joint efforts to address military threats from North Korea.
According to a news release by Yonhap News Agency, the exercise involved U.S. Navy SEALs along with South Korean troops from the Navy Special Warfare Flotilla and the Army Special Warfare Command. The training spanned maritime, air, and land domains, and made use of UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and a South Korean landing ship. The specific location and date of the exercise were not disclosed for reasons of operational security. A South Korean Army official indicated that the drills took place between October 16-20 but declined to provide further details.
The training aims to enhance interoperability and mission capabilities and comes at a time when North Korea has increased military activities, including the firing of two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea last month.
SOCKOR is a component command of U.S. Forces Korea and is responsible for conducting special operations in the Korean theater of operations.