Seoul, June 18 (RHC)-- A U.S. soldier has been found dead in South Korea following a navigation training exercise, the U.S. military said. Korean citizens found the body of Specialist Michael William Corey, an intelligence analyst based in Japan, near the edge of Camp Jackson on Monday, U.S. Forces Korea said in a statement on Thursday.

Corey, originally from Arizona, had been in the forces for a little more than a year. He had been stationed in the 441st Military Intelligence Battalion in Camp Zama, outside Tokyo. The military said an investigation was underway to determine the exact cause of Corey’s death during land navigation training.

Corey was temporarily in South Korea to take part in a leadership training course at Camp Jackson, a U.S. Army base north of the capital of Seoul.

The United States has maintained a large military presence in South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War. It has a force of about 28,000 troops in the country, which is a key American ally in the region.

Early this month, South Korean and U.S. forces launched major anti-submarine military drills off South Korea’s island of Jeju in response to what they called provocations by North Korean submarines. The three-day naval drills came weeks after North Korea declared it had successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).