South Korean soldier killed during exercise near border with North Korea

South Korea's military says one soldier was killed and six others were injured during an artillery drill near the border with North Korea.

The explosion occurred at around 3 p.m. on August 18 at a military shooting range in Cherwon, a South Korean border town. Seven injured soldiers were taken to hospital, one of whom died during treatment, Yonhap reported.

"An explosion of unknown cause occurred during the exercise, injuring some soldiers," Yonhap quoted a South Korean military official as saying. The official said an investigation into the cause of the explosion was being urgently conducted.

Meanwhile, Reuters quoted an unnamed South Korean military official as saying the explosion was "unrelated to North Korea." The exercise involved about 10 artillery pieces.

From August 21 to 31, South Korea and the United States will conduct a large-scale joint exercise on land, sea and air called "Ulchi Freedom Guardian".

South Korean soldiers during a military exercise. Photo: CNN.

While the US and South Korea insist that these exercises are purely defensive in nature, North Korea accuses them of being rehearsals for a nuclear war against Pyongyang.

North Korean state media warned on August 17 that joint military exercises between the US and South Korea would push the situation on the Korean peninsula to “disaster.”

After a series of days of "war of words" between Washington and Pyongyang, tensions on the Korean peninsula showed signs of cooling down when leader Kim Jong Un decided to postpone the plan to attack Guam to see what the US would do next. US President Donald Trump later "complimented" leader Kim Jong Un "quite smart for acting wisely".

According to Zing.vn