South Korea’s JoongAng Daily reports that South Korea is on the verge of a deal with Russia to create what would effectively be a military base near the Russia-North Korea border:
Reporting on initial contacts with the Russian military, a Defense Ministry official in Seoul said yesterday that South Korea is considering paying to use training grounds in eastern Russia in order to practice large-scale troop maneuvers.
South Korea’s own military training grounds are considered too small for large-scale troop movements.
According to the official, a lack of training grounds is especially felt when the South Korean military needs to conduct training involving artillery.
There’s an interesting debate running right now in Korea-blog The Marmot’s Hole. The comments there include speculation that the large number of troops needed to service such large-scale exercise would mean that a substantial number of Korean soldiers and equipment - particularly artillery - would need to be stationed in Russia on a permanent basis, a move which would add to the encirclement of North Korea.
