In preparation for the ever-increasing threat of North Korea’s provocation, South Korea and the U.S. will mobilize the latest aircraft from the U.S. Air Force and conduct joint special operations training until early this month.

According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the 2nd, South Korea and the U.S. will conduct the annual joint special operations training, ‘Teak Knife’, which has been ongoing since early last month, until next week.

‘Teak knife’ training is a training for special forces to master special operations to infiltrate inside enemy lines with air support. South Korea and the United States have been conducting sea drills annually since the 1990s, but due to the sensitive content of infiltrating enemy lines, it is conducted privately. There were many cases.

It is unusual for the military authorities to disclose joint special warfare training, which is interpreted as sending a warning to North Korea.

Special warfare units are mastering the operational procedures to precisely strike targets in wartime areas with strong air firepower through real aircraft firepower induction training this week.

In particular, the AC-130J, the most advanced special warfare aircraft of the US Air Force, will be deployed to the Korean Peninsula for the first time to participate in the training. Training is being conducted to accurately hit targets with precision guided weapons such as the AGM-176 (Griffin) and GBU-39 (SDB).

During the training period, Chairman Kim Seung-gyeom of the Joint Chiefs of Staff visited the air base where the AC-130J was deployed, inspected the operational procedures, and strengthened his will to prepare for a decisive battle with the special forces soldiers.

Chairman Kim inspected the armaments and mission execution procedures to be used during actual operations and said, “Through practical combined special operations training, we will be equipped with the ability to strike the enemy’s core facilities without any error, and will improve interoperability between Korea and the United States to carry out combined operations in wartime. Please complete your posture.”

In addition, while examining the operational posture of the ROK and U.S. special forces soldiers, “to prepare for the ever-increasing threat of North Korea’s provocation, always have the ability and readiness to end the situation with victory by inflicting fatal damage to the enemy no matter what mission is assigned at any time.” Emphasized.

An official from the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, “The visit by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Kim Seung-gyeom to the site of joint special operations training was a full-fledged joint exercise,’Freedom Shield’ (FS) practice, amidst North Korea’s successive provocations and threatening remarks about the ROK-US joint training and practice. This was done to check the overwhelming retaliation posture and the ROK-U.S. combined defense posture in preparation for the enemy provocation ahead of time,” he added.

Source: Donga