South Korean-U.S. militaries refine tunnel warfare skills

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South Korean-U.S. militaries refine tunnel warfare skills

Published: 17 Mar. 2025, 17:02 Updated: 17 Mar. 2025, 19:43

SEO JI-EUN
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Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

A soldier from the 2nd Infantry Division/South Korean-U.S. Combined Division deploy an unmanned robot to navigate and search a subterranean facility during the South Korea-U.S. underground facility response drill in Paju, Gyeonggi, on March 17, as part of this year's Freedom Shield field training drills. [ROK ARMY]

South Korea and the United States launched a joint military drill Monday aimed at seizing North Korea's underground tunnels and key subterranean facilities as part of their ongoing annual Freedom Shield military exercise.

The four-day drill held in Paju, Gyeonggi, comes in response to North Korea's extensive underground network, which military officials estimate includes thousands of tunnels beneath Pyongyang and other strategic locations. These tunnels are believed to serve as secret escape routes for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and upper echelon in case of war, South Korean Army's Ground Operations Command said Monday.

To counter such threats, South Korea's Army established the Special Operations Support Brigade in 2019, a dedicated underground warfare force. By the end of 2024, the Army aims to upgrade the unit with enhanced mobility, intelligence, logistics, chemical warfare and medical support units.

The North's underground facilities, in addition to tunnels, include weapons of mass destruction (WMD) storage and urban underground infrastructure, like subways. They became an increasingly observed military domain after the Israel-Hamas war demonstrated how tunnels can be used for escaping leaders, holding hostages and smuggling weapons. Israel struggled to neutralize Hamas' tunnel network, even resorting to pumping seawater into them.

Approximately 370 personnel from both countries participated in the South Korea-U.S. exercise.

The exercise began with drone reconnaissance, as South Korea’s Dronebot Combat Group deployed surveillance drones near the underground facility. Using intelligence data gathered from drones, South Korea’s mechanized units launched a ground assault, neutralizing enemy forces outside the tunnel and securing entry points.

Soldiers from the Capital Mechanized Infantry Division conduct search-and-destroy exercises inside a subterranean training area during the South Korea-U.S. underground facility response drill in Paju, Gyeonggi, on March 17, as part of this year's Freedom Shield field training drills. [ROK ARMY]

Troops then sealed off exits and disabled water, ventilation and power systems, isolating enemy forces inside.

Miniature drones were used to pinpoint enemy positions, and after confirming the area was free from chemical contamination, South Korean and U.S. troops breached the underground facility, eliminating all opposing forces to complete the mission.

“It was an invaluable opportunity for South Korean and U.S. troops being in one team and sharing underground combat strategies,” said Lt. Col. Hwang Hyeon-jo, commander of the Special Maneuvers Support Brigade's Engineer Battalion. “We were able to accumulate diverse operational experiences and identify areas for improvement in underground warfare.”

State-of-the-art military technology was used in the exercise, including South Korea’s Swede drones and quadrupedal walking robots, the U.S. Army’s military micro unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Black Hornet Nano and the Talon robot for detecting and neutralizing improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

A soldier from the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division and South Korean-U.S. Combined Division deploys an unmanned robot to search a subterranean facility during an underground facility response drill in Paju, Gyeonggi, on March 17. The exercise is part of this year's Freedom Shield field training drills. [ROK ARMY]

On the same day, North Korea lashed out at the Group of 7 (G7), rejecting the G7 Foreign Ministers’ joint statement issued last week that urged Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons.

In an official statement carried by North Korea’s official Rodong Sinmun, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson accused the United States and its “vassal” allies of “anachronistic ambition,” claiming that G7 nations are expanding nuclear deterrence while calling for North Korea’s disarmament, and that they are “the root cause of the occurrence of global nuclear crisis and its aggravation.”

“The DPRK will steadily update and strengthen its nuclear armed forces both in quality and quantity in response to the nuclear threat from outside as stipulated in its Constitution and other domestic laws and reliably defend the peace and security of the state, the region and the rest of the world as the responsible nuclear weapons state,” the spokesperson said in the English-language statement. DPRK is the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

After a meeting in La Malbaie, Canada, the foreign ministers of the G7 advanced nations issued a joint statement Friday that calls for North Korea to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and condemns its military aid in support of Russia's war in Ukraine.

BY LEE YU-JEONG, LEE GEUN-PYEONG, SEO JI-EUN [[email protected]]