741 second-year cadets from four military academies embark on ROKS Marado for joint cruise training

[Financial News] A large-scale maritime theater exercise has set sail, going beyond basic sea familiarization training to break down the “inter-service barriers” that have long plagued the South Korean military and develop the “integrated jointness” essential to future battlefield environments. In particular, the exercise has been designed around a multidimensional route linking the U.S. territory of Guam, a center of U.S.-China strategic competition and a hub in the western Pacific, with Jeju, a key point for South Korea’s maritime sovereignty. It is expected to broaden the strategic security perspective of future officers.
According to the Republic of Korea Navy and the Ministry of National Defense, the 2026 Joint Cruise Training Task Force, led by Brig. Gen. Jeong In-cheol, held a grand departure ceremony at Jinhae Naval Base on the 3rd and is embarking on an 18-day schedule that runs through the 20th.
Now being held for the ninth time, the joint cruise training has established itself as a forum for integrated training across all services, with 741 second-year cadets taking part from the Army, Navy and Air Force academies as well as the Korea Armed Forces Nursing Academy.
What sets this exercise apart from earlier observational cruise training is the overwhelming scale and operational realism of the weapons systems deployed. Led by the Republic of Korea Navy’s large transport ship ROKS Marado (LPH, 14,500-ton class), the next-generation landing ships ROKS Ilchulbong and ROKS Nojeokbong (LST-II, 4,900-ton class each) will deploy in formation. The Republic of Korea Marine Corps’ key aerial mobility asset, the MUH-1 Marineon assault transport helicopter, will also be integrated with them to create a multidimensional joint operational environment spanning sea and air.
Jeong In-cheol, commander of the Joint Cruise Training Task Force and a Republic of Korea Navy brigadier general, stressed that the training would not only deepen future defenders of the nation’s understanding of naval operations, but also provide an opportunity to strengthen jointness across service branches under the shared goal of defending the homeland.
For 18 days, the cadets will experience firsthand the demanding duties Navy personnel perform in the field, including watchstanding, battle stations and damage-control drills. In coordination with exercises conducted by the task force’s mobile fleet command, they will also observe tactical maneuvers, helicopter takeoffs and landings, and underway replenishment, gaining an understanding of other services’ operational concepts and an opportunity for motivation.
The training task force is scheduled to make a port call in the U.S. territory of Guam, the heart of U.S. military power in the western Pacific. There, the cadets will tour U.S. Joint Region Marianas and naval and air force bases, and visit the Guam government to see firsthand the practical foundations of the combined ROK-U.S. defense posture. The schedule also includes paying respects at a memorial tower for Korean War veterans, reaffirming the historic significance of the two countries’ blood-forged alliance.
The task force will then head to Jeju, a key hub in the waters south of the Korean Peninsula, where the cadets plan to visit the Republic of Korea Navy’s Mobile Fleet Command, a state-of-the-art Aegis destroyer and the Republic of Korea Marine Corps’ 9th Brigade in turn, gaining a comprehensive view of the front line of efforts to defend South Korea’s maritime territory.
Military experts said that, in the rapidly evolving environment of future multi-domain operations (MDO), integrated maritime cruise training of this kind would help strengthen jointness by enabling personnel to understand the assets and tactics of other services.

[email protected] Lee Jong-yoon Reporter