South Korea holds live-fire drills near border with North Korea
(Baonghean.vn) - According to Yonhap news agency, the South Korean military said on March 14 that it held live-fire tank drills near the inter-Korean border, with the participation of US military engineers, as the two allies' annual large-scale spring exercises are about to end.
The drills took place as part of a week-long training course at the Seungjin Fire Training Area in Pocheon, just 25 kilometers south of the inter-Korean border, and were combined with the Freedom Shield exercise, which is said to be aimed at enhancing deterrence against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
About 300 personnel participated in the field training, mobilizing K1A2 tanks and K21 armored vehicles from the Army, among other equipment, as well as M1150 assault vehicles from a joint South Korean-US engineering unit.
The South Korean and US militaries have established joint combat teams in an effort to enhance their combined operations capabilities.
During the exercise, K1A2 tanks and K21 armored vehicles fired at targets while South Korean and US engineers removed obstacles to clear the way for troops to take the initiative, according to the South Korean Army.
North Korea has long denounced joint US-South Korea military exercises as rehearsals for an invasion, while Seoul and Washington say the exercises are defensive in nature.
Earlier, on March 13, North Korean state media reported that leader Kim Jong-un had directed a training competition between tank units, where he drove a newly unveiled tank. This move, according to Yonhap, was a show of force ahead of US-South Korea drills.
The computer-simulated Freedom Shield exercise, which began on March 4 and has now concluded, saw the allies, the United States and South Korea, hold a series of simultaneous field exercises that they said were aimed at boosting their readiness against threats from North Korea.
The South Korean Navy also held a three-day joint medical evacuation exercise from March 14 with a scenario of mass casualties in wartime.
According to the South Korean Navy, the exercise mobilized one South Korean helicopter and two US helicopters to transport the wounded from Deokjeok Island off Incheon, west of Seoul, to the Daejeon Armed Forces Hospital in Daejeon, 139 km south of Seoul.
