Republic of Korea Navy Special Warfare Flotilla

The SWF teams take applicants among conscripts, petty officers, and officers. Most petty officers and all conscripts now apply before basic training while officers apply after commissioning (NA, ROTC, or OCS), completion of Surface Warfare Officer School (SWOS), and after they have been assigned to a ship. The BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL School) selection process is inspired by and similar to the U.S. Navy SEAL program, consisting of physical and mental challenges, such as Hell Week. The completion rate has been known to dip under 10% and usually hovers between 30–40%, leading to manpower problems as the unit continues to expand and has an increasing number of foreign commitments.

Since 2010, most washouts have been retained as support personnel and equipment maintenance staff. Those who survive the first ten weeks are trained in open and closed circuit diving, demolition, land warfare and tactics before receiving the special warfare pin. It also includes training to fight in close quarters under MUSAT.[4]

A SEAL/UDT team is made up of seven soldiers: a point man, a platoon leader, a communication expert, a machine gunner, a grenadier, an assistant leader, and rear security. Basic UDT/SEAL training is 10 weeks long for enlisted men and 20 to 26 weeks long for NCO and officers.

Fifteen South Korean secret agents, a team of three and two teams of six, were sent to the North on a mission to seize a North Korean naval vessel and to kidnap a key officer. But the mission failed because of miscommunication among the South Korean vessels and the commander's misjudgment. It was about 2 a.m. when the three South Korean vessels approached the bay from the Yellow Sea and met wired obstacles on the water, which made navigating harder. Without warning, the North Korean Navy started an attack that apparently killed six agents. The other nine South Korean agents returned safely to the South.[6]

SWF were involved in the 1996 Gangneung submarine infiltration incident caused by North Korean agents, on a mission to spy on the naval installations in the area and then return. The submarine made a failed attempt to collect the team on the 17th, and returned the following day. The submarine, however, ran aground in the attempt, and all efforts to try to make her free were in vain. A 49-day-long manhunt ensued, from 18 September through 5 November, resulting in the capture or elimination of all the crew and members of the reconnaissance team, except one, who is believed to have made it back to North Korea. Four civilians and 12 ROK soldiers (eight by firefight and four accidental) died; 27 soldiers were wounded.

In 1998 the unit was involved in the recovery and search of a North Korean Yono-class submarine that had been accidentally snared in fishing nets near Sokcho, Gangwon Province. A South Korean fishing boat observed several submarine crewmen trying to untangle the submarine from the fishing net. The fishing boat notified the Republic of Korea Navy and a corvette towed the submarine with the crew still inside to a navy base at the port of Donghae.[7] The submarine sank as it was being towed into port, it was unclear if this was as a result of damage or a deliberate scuttling by the crew.[8]

Since 2009, the SWF have formed the core of the Cheonghae anti-piracy task group deployed to the coast of Somalia. In the early morning of January 22, 2011, as part of Operation Dawn of Gulf of Aden, 15 SWF operators boarded the 11,000-ton chemical freighter Samho Jewelry which was taken by 13 pirates 6 days prior; 21 sailors had been held hostages.[9] ROKS Choi-Young, a 4600-ton destroyer, dispatched its SWF team at 4:58 am along with a Lynx helicopter which then circled the ship and fired machine guns to distract the pirates. The boarding party of 15 SWF killed 8 pirates and captured 5 without taking any casualties after 3 hours of intense firefighting. All 21 hostages were secured, with one hostage suffering a non-fatal gunshot wound to the abdomen.

SWF provided 114 men that took part in the recovery operation during the sinking of the MV Sewol, during which 304, mostly high school students, perished.[10]

The weapons and equipment of the ROKNSWF are a mixture of indigenous and foreign manufacture. The Korean K1 carbine, K201 grenade launcher, K3 SAW, K5 pistol, and K7 suppressed sub-machine gun are all widely used in addition to the Heckler & Koch HK416 assault rifle, SIG Sauer SIG516, FN SCAR-L, Beretta 92FS and P226 Navy, as well as MP5A5 and MP5SD6 sub-machine guns for VBSS and CT. Some operators have been spotted training with Glock pistols and versions of the Arctic Warfare, Mk 11, Sako TRG M10 and LRT-3 50 cal sniper rifles. Some newer K2Cs, shortened K2s with added Picatinny rails, have been added to their arsenal.