South Korea marks 77th anniversary of Armed Forces Day in scaled-down event

Seoul, Oct 1 (IANS) South Korea on Wednesday held a ceremony to commemorate the 77th anniversary of the founding of its armed forces in a scaled-down event in the aftermath of last year's botched martial law bid.

The Armed Forces Day event took place at the military headquarters in Gyeryong, some 145 kilometres south of Seoul, involving 998 troops and around 100 pieces of military equipment, according to the defence ministry.

The ministry has decided to scale down this year's celebration -- skipping a large-scale military parade that was held in downtown Seoul last year -- in the aftermath of the martial law bid imposed by now-jailed former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Although a military parade was not scheduled, the military showed off an array of the nation's key weapons systems at the ceremony, including the 230-mm Chunmoo multiple rocket launcher, the K9 self-propelled howitzer and the KAAV amphibious assault vehicle.

A number of assets to be deployed to the military were also disclosed to the public for the first time, including a homegrown bomb disposal robot and the low observable Wingman unmanned aerial vehicle under development.

Formation flights involving a fleet of fighter jets and helicopters decorated the skies Wednesday morning, followed by a performance by the Air Force's Black Eagles aerobatic team.

A military parade has usually taken place every five years to commemorate Armed Forces Day. But under the preceding Yoon administration, the armed forces held a large military parade for two years straight, in 2023 and 2024, in what appeared to be a display of military muscle-flexing.

The defense ministry has decided to markedly scale down this year's Armed Forces Day celebrations in line with the efforts by President Lee Jae Myung's administration to ease tensions with North Korea and build a trusted military, Yonhap news agency reported.

For this year's event, 998 troops were mobilised, about one-fifth of the some 5,000 troops that took part in last year's celebrations. About 100 pieces of military equipment were deployed for this year, down from some 340 mobilised last year.

On the budgetary side, the ministry spent 2.7 billion won ($1.9 million) this year, one-third of the 7.2 billion won set for last year.

In line with this year's theme centering on building a military catering to the people, the ministry has designated 77 civic representatives, including people of merit, to take part in various performances, including a taekwondo demonstration with troops.

--IANS

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