South Korea begins its first artillery drills in 6 years

After a 6-year hiatus, South Korea resumed military artillery exercises with live fire near the inter-Korean demarcation line. The reason for this was regular “garbage” attacks from the DPRK.

This is reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to the Korea Times.

The move comes nearly a month after South Korea suspended the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement in its entirety on June 4 due to North Korea's rocket-propelled grenade campaign and attempts to disrupt GPS signals near border islands.

Since the end of May, North Korea has launched more than 2,000 garbage balloons across the border in response to anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent by North Korean defectors and activists in the South, it said.

Thus, the suspension allowed South Korea to resume training to strengthen its frontline defenses.

"Previously, artillery and naval exercises as well as field maneuvers at the regimental level were prohibited due to land and sea buffer zones established in the area. No-fly zones were also marked near the border to prevent accidental aircraft collisions," the statement said.

According to South Korea's military, the troops fired about 140 rounds from K9 and K105A1 self-propelled howitzers during exercises at front-line training grounds in Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do provinces, located 5 kilometers from the military demarcation line in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas.

"The army will continue to regularly conduct artillery exercises and training of maneuverable units in the border areas," the army said.

Author - Serhii Kolomiets, 02/07/2024