The United States will host joint drills with South Korea’s military on continental soil next month for the first time, officials said.
South Korea's marine corps will send dozens of personnel to the Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command in Twentynine Palms, California, from Aug. 2 through Aug. 29, officials said Tuesday, as the two countries maintain a close relationship amid heightened tensions with North Korea.
About 50 South Korean marines will join the U.S. Marine Corps training program, Yonhap News reported. South Korea’s military previously joined a multinational exercise in Hawaii.
According to Yonhap News, the training in California will include live-fire drills and urban combat training.
The joint training exercises in California follow weeks of joint military training exercises on the Korean Peninsula, where the U.S. deployed a pair of nuclear-powered submarines.
The presence of the subs prompted backlash from North Korea’s dictatorship, which fired a pair of ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan in response. The launches came hours after USS Annapolis arrived at a port on Jeju Island.
Last week, USS Kentucky became the first U.S. nuclear-armed submarine to come to South Korea since the 1980s. North Korea similarly reacted to its arrival by test-firing ballistic and cruise missiles.
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South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff called North Korea’s missile launches a "grave provocation" and said such drastic actions threaten regional peace and stability. Japan's Defense Ministry said no damage was reported from the missiles.
The relationship between North Korea and the U.S. has been especially tense since North Korean authorities detained American soldier Travis King after he ran across the Military Demarcation Line last Tuesday.
Andrew Harrison, a British lieutenant general who is deputy commander at the U.N. Command, said Monday that conversations to secure King's release have started, although North Korea has remained publicly silent about King.
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In Washington, the State Department has not confirmed any dialogue with North Korea.
"There have been no new contacts since last week," said spokesman Matthew Miller, who clarified North Korea had only "acknowledged" receiving the U.N. message last week and has not provided any information since.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
