Marine Corps-Hosted Armed Forces Day Event on the 1st of Next Month

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] On the 1st of next month, the Armed Forces Day event will be held in Pohang, Gyeongbuk. This year, the event is hosted by the Marine Corps.

On the 28th, the Ministry of National Defense announced, that the 73rd Armed Forces Day commemorative event will be held on the morning of the 1st of next month near Yeongil Bay, close to the Marine Corps 1st Division in Pohang, Gyeongbuk.

The theme of this year's event is "The People's Army, the Great Korean Armed Forces," which, according to the Ministry of National Defense, represents the Armed Forces' determination to leap forward as an elite force by meeting the expectations of the people and soldiers and strengthening advanced scientific capabilities and autonomous defense capabilities.

This year, an amphibious operation will be reenacted by mobilizing one brigade of the Marine Corps 1st Division, with the Marado-class ship as the main force, along with landing ship tanks (LST, 2,600 tons), Aegis destroyers (DDG, 7,600 tons), and patrol combat corvettes (PCC, 1,000 tons) deployed in the waters near Pohang city, Gyeongbuk. In particular, the Dosan Ahn Changho-class submarine (Jangbogo III-class), the first domestically produced 3,000-ton submarine that recently succeeded in test-firing a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), will also showcase its presence.

The Marado-class ship, performing its first mission, is a large transport ship commissioned 14 years after the Dokdo-class ship (the first ship), equipped with the domestically produced anti-ship guided missile defense missile "Haegung." It is also equipped with a domestically researched and developed 3D rotating radar, which increases detection range and target update rate compared to the Dokdo-class ship. The Marado-class ship is 199.4 meters long, 31.4 meters high, and has a maximum speed of 42 km/h. It carries 330 crew members.

The Marado-class ship performs roles such as operational command during disasters and emergencies, evacuation of overseas nationals in emergencies, international peacekeeping activities, and also serves as the command and control ship for mobile units. The ship's name, Marado, was chosen to reflect the Navy's determination to protect the southern sea area of the Korean Peninsula and maritime traffic routes, named after the southernmost island "Marado."

The event location, Pohang, has been the home of the Marine Corps 1st Division since 1959, nurturing brave marines. It is the undisputed cradle of the Marine Corps, with the Education and Training Group and the Logistics Support Group established there. For this reason, Pohang was selected as the event site.