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The Republic of Korea Marine Corps is participating in the '2026 KAMANDAG Exercise' from the past 14th to July 1st across the Luzon Island area in the Philippines. The photograph shows South Korean Marine Corps service members executing amphibious operation drill tasks on the past 18th, mastering combat execution procedures to secure objectives after the landing force hits the beach. / Courtesy of the ROK Marine Corps

The Marine Corps participated in the '2026 KAMANDAG Exercise' conducted across the Luzon Island area in the Philippines until the 1st of next month, executing missions such as search and reconnaissance, landing, humanitarian assistance, and disaster response under new operational environments to cultivate combined operational execution capabilities.

The KAMANDAG exercise is a multinational combined exercise that the US and Philippine Marine Corps have been conducting since 2017 to strengthen anti-terrorism capabilities, coastal defense, and cultivate combat skills through cooperation among friendly nations. KAMANDAG is an acronym for the Philippine phrase meaning 'Cooperation of the Warriors of the Sea.' Following the proposal of the US and Philippine Marine Corps, the Republic of Korea Marine Corps has been participating in the company-level scale exercise every year since 2022.

This year's KAMANDAG exercise participating countries are South Korea, the United States, the Philippines, and Japan. Observing countries include Canada, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Thailand, and Bahrain.

In this exercise, the Marine Corps organized units into rifle forces (rifle companies, reconnaissance teams, sniper squads) and technical exchange teams. The rifle companies focused on shooting and landing procedure training with major participating nations, while the reconnaissance teams centered on jungle and maritime search and reconnaissance. They solidified capabilities through jungle survival training and maritime infiltration utilizing IBS. Particularly in this exercise, they performed live-fire shooting of an anti-materiel sniper rifle (12.7mm) for the first time, pulling up combined operational precision strike capabilities.

Throughout the entire exercise, the South Korean Marine Corps organized a combined command post together with participating nations to conduct staff exercises, mastering command and control procedures among multinational forces and strengthening interoperability.

Following the commissioned education continued since 2022 targeting the Philippine Marine Corps, maintenance personnel from the technical exchange team directly participated to exchange operation and maintenance know-how for the Korean Amphibious Assault Vehicle (KAAV) and military vehicles, stepping forward for K-defense cooperation. The Philippine Marine Corps previously introduced 8 KAAV units in 2016.

First Lieutenant Mark Joel L. Bucayu of the Philippine Marine Corps, who participated in the exercise, stated, "We were able to exchange each other's tactics and achieve various training tasks in diverse environments such as jungle areas with the South Korean Marine Corps," adding, "Just as both nations' Marines trained with one heart, I hope we develop into a growing relationship in the future as well."

Major Jeon Yun-ki, the South Korean Marine Corps training commander, stated, "Through the KAMANDAG exercise, we were able to equip the capability and readiness to complete assigned missions in any environment and region domestically or abroad," adding, "With the pride of representing the Republic of Korea, I will do my best to complete the mission of the Marine Corps loyal to defending the nation."

The Marine Corps plans to participate in various overseas combined exercises this year, such as the US Combined Arms Exercise (United States), Super Garuda Shield (Indonesia), and Khan Quest (Mongolia).

                                                                                                             Lee Han-sol