South Korea has sent Navy and Marine troops to participate in one of the world's largest military exercises held every year in Thailand later this week, the Marine Corps said Sunday.

Cobra Gold, a regional drill initiated by the United States and Thailand, will run from Monday to Feb. 20 this year. The largest Asia-Pacific exercise was started in 1981 and has been an annual fixture in the Southeast Asian nation.

This year would mark the sixth time South Korea joins the pan-continental exercise. Seven other countries, including the U.S., Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, will be taking part in the upcoming drill.

A total of 50 South Korean Navy and Marine troops were dispatched on a C-130 Hercules aircraft two days earlier, authorities here said.

Together with their international counterparts, they will be trained on jungle survival, urban combat and aerial and maritime infiltration, among others, in the district of Sattahip, they added.

Of the 50 South Korean service members, 14 Navy and Marine officers will join the command post exercise held throughout the period in the central Thai province of Nakhon Nayok, according to the authorities. (Yonhap)