S. Korea resumes border artillery drills on land for 1st time in 6 years

South Korea resumed live-fire exercises at artillery ranges near the border with North Korea on Tuesday for the first time in six years, following the suspension of an inter-Korean tension-reduction pact that restricted such drills.

Troops fired some 140 rounds using the K9 and K105A1 self-propelled howitzers during the drills at front-line ranges in the provinces of Gyeonggi and Gangwon, located within 5 kilometers of the Military Demarcation Line within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, according to the Army.

"The firing drills, the first such exercise to be conducted on land after exercises were normalized following the government's complete suspension of the September 19 Military Agreement, focused on bolstering artillery readiness and response capabilities in the event of enemy provocations," the Army said.

"The Army will regularly conduct artillery drills and training of maneuvering units in border areas going forward," it added.

The move came nearly a month after South Korea fully suspended the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement on June 4 in the wake of North Korea's trash balloon campaigns and attempts to disrupt GPS signals near border islands.

North Korea has launched more than 2,000 trash-carrying balloons across the border since late May in a tit-for-tat move against anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent by North Korean defectors and activists in the South.

The suspension enabled South Korea to resume drills to bolster front-line defenses. Previously, artillery and naval drills, as well as regiment-level field maneuvers, were banned due to land and maritime buffer zones set up in the area. No-fly zones had also been designated near the border to prevent accidental aircraft clashes.

Last week, the Marine Corps resumed a full-scale live-fire exercise, involving K9 howitzers and Chunmoo multiple rocket launcher systems, for the first time in seven years on islands near the tensely guarded western inter-Korean maritime border. (Yonhap)