South Korea: Army holds live-fire artillery drills at Paju firing range for 1st time in 7 years

Seoul, April 22 (IANS) South Korean artillery units have staged live-fire drills near the inter-Korean border this week, striking targets inside a US firing range for the first time in seven years, the Army said Tuesday.

The drills took place Monday around the Imjin River in Paju, about 30 kilometres northwest of Seoul, mobilising 12 K9A1 self-propelled howitzers and six K55A1s that fired around 60 shells at targets in Story Live Fire Complex, Yonhap news agency reported.

It marked the first time that South Korean troops have staged such drills at the firing range since Seoul fully suspended a 2018 inter-Korean tension reduction pact last June over the North's mass launches of balloons carrying trash across the border.

Under the deal, the two Koreas had been banned from holding artillery drills and large-scale military exercises hear the border. Last month, South Korea and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding for South Korean troops to resume the use of the training range.

The Army earlier resumed artillery drills at two other firing ranges near the border after Seoul's suspension of the 2018 deal.

"With the resumption of (artillery drills) against targets at Story, they have all been normalized," an Army official said.

The Army said the resumption of live-fire artillery drills at the training range is expected to enhance its firepower operations and long-range firing capabilities to "immediately" respond to North Korean artillery strikes.

--IANS

int/rs