Korea, US conduct joint infiltration drill amid NK threat

South Korea's Army on Tuesday conducted an air infiltration drill with the support of US helicopters in a move to better counter growing nuclear and missile threats posed by North Korea.

The latest maneuver is part of the broader Hoguk combined drill, which the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force have carried out every year since 1996. The two-weeklong Hoguk combined exercise will run through Nov. 11.

Some 250 South Korean soldiers from the 30th Mechanized Infantry Division boarded helicopters and took off from Chungju, 147 kilometers south of Seoul, and landed in Hongcheon, 102 km east of Seoul, to carry out the infiltration exercise, an Army spokesman said.

In an air infiltration drill, the Army sent its special forces troops to sever the enemy's line of communication and take strategically important areas or facilities that can help South Korea and its allies in the event of a conflict breaking out.

Helicopters that joined the drill included six UH-60 Blackhawk and CH-47 Chinook helicopters sent by US forces and 10 UH-60 Blackhawks and four AH-1S Cobra helicopters dispatched by the South Korean Army, the spokesman said. The Cobras provided fire support to the troops ferried into the target area via the choppers.

This year alone, North Korea has conducted two underground nuclear tests in January and September and some two dozen ballistic missile tests.

Such developments have escalated global fears that the North is approaching its stated goal of developing a nuclear-tipped long-range ballistic missile that can even hit parts of the US mainland. (Yonhap)