Thai sailors adjust their navy’s flag aboard the frigate Kraburi while docked at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, March 19, 2025. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
WHITE BEACH NAVAL FACILITY, Okinawa — Thai naval cadets are training with U.S. sailors and the United Nations Command-Rear this week during the Thai navy’s first port call on Okinawa in more than two decades.
Three Thai navy vessels — the offshore patrol vessel HTMS Prachuap Khiri Khan and frigates HTMS Kraburi and Chao Phraya — docked Monday at White Beach Naval Facility, U.S. Navy spokeswoman Candice Barber said in an email Tuesday.
The ships remained in port as of Wednesday morning, but Barber declined in a subsequent message to specify when they would depart.
Approximately 760 Thai sailors and cadets from the Royal Thai Naval Academy Training Unit, including Rear Adm. Borworn Promkaewngam, are participating in training and orientation exercises on Okinawa, Barber said.
The last visit to White Beach by Thai frigates with the academy was in 2004, she added.
“This multilateral engagement conducted on a United Nations Command-Rear designated facility exemplifies the importance and strength of our partnership and friendship,” Capt. Joseph Parsons, the U.S. Navy commander on Okinawa, said in an emailed statement provided by Barber on Tuesday. “We are deeply honored by this visit of the Royal Thai Navy and look forward to welcoming them back in the future.”
The U.N. Command, established in 1950 as a multinational military force to support South Korea during the Korean War, includes Thailand among its 193 member nations. Thailand was one of 21 countries that sent troops to aid South Korea during the war.
The Thai navy frigates Kraburi, left, and Chao Phraya dock at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, March 19, 2025. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
The Thai navy offshore patrol ship Prachuap Khiri Khan docks at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, March 19, 2025. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
U.N. Command-Rear, headquartered at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, coordinates reinforcements that would be sent to the Korean Peninsula via Japanese ports in the event of an emergency. It also oversees the missions of warships and aircraft monitoring North Korea’s attempts to evade U.N. sanctions.
During their visit, the Thai cadets were briefed by Canadian army Maj. Patrick Tsao-David, deputy commander of U.N. Command-Rear, on the status of forces agreement governing U.N. forces in Japan “and the role it plays in regional peace and security,” Barber said.
The cadets also worked with the Navy’s port operations and security teams at White Beach to “exercise interoperability and coordination,” she added. Interoperability refers to the ability of different militaries to operate together using various training methods and equipment.
U.S. forces participated in Cobra Gold, the largest multinational exercise in mainland Asia, held in Thailand from Feb. 25 to March 7. More than 8,000 troops from 30 countries participated.
