S.Korea, US Hold Joint River-Crossing Drills Amid N.Korea Missile Firing

YEONCHEON (South Korea), March 15 (Bernama-Yonhap) -- The South Korean and United States militaries staged joint river-crossing drills in the border county of Yeoncheon on Saturday as part of their annual spring exercise aimed at enhancing interoperability between the allies.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the field training coincided with North Korea firing around 10 ballistic missiles towards the East Sea earlier in the day. The missile launches appeared to be a show of force against the Seoul-Washington joint military exercise.

The training took place on the Imjin River in Yeoncheon, located about 50 kilometres north of Seoul, involving about 200 pieces of equipment, including KM3 amphibious bridging vehicles and ribbon bridge systems, according to the armed services.

The drills are part of the field-training events of the Freedom Shield (FS) exercise, which began on Monday and will run for 11 days, aimed at strengthening the allies’ combined defence posture.

About 700 troops from South Korea’s Capital Mechanised Infantry Division and 7th Engineer Brigade, along with the US Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 2nd Infantry Division, participated in the drills.

This year, the Korean-made KM3 amphibious bridge and ferry system was connected with the United States’ Improved Ribbon Bridge (IRB) for the first time in a wet-gap crossing.

-- BERNAMA-YONHAP