‘Punish the enemy’: S. Korea set for huge drill
Land drill involves largest number of personnel in a peace-time exercise
South Korea announced new land and sea military exercises on Wednesday, including its largest-ever live-fire drill near North Korea, just as tension on the peninsula was beginning to ease after Pyongyang’s attack on a southern island.
The firing drills planned for Thursday near the Koreas’ heavily armed land border signaled that South Korea is willing to risk further escalating tensions with North Korea, which shelled a southern island off the western coast on Nov. 23 and stirred up a war-like atmosphere.
The attack, which killed four people, was portrayed by Pyongyang as a retaliation for southern military exercises on Yeonpyeong island that day.
The new land drill will involve three dozen mobile artillery guns, six fighter jets, multiple launch rocket systems and 800 troops in what would be the largest number of personnel in a single peace-time exercise.