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| ▲ Marine Corps Commandant Lt. Gen. Kim Gye-hwan gives a military salute during a parliamentary audit held at the Navy's headquarters in Gyeryong, 142 kilometers south of Seoul, on Oct. 24, 2023. (Yonhap) |
military agreement-drills
Marine chief says suspended live-fire drills on border islands need to be resumed
By Kim Eun-jung
GYERYONG, South Korea, Oct. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Marine chief said Tuesday live-fire drills on border islands in the Yellow Sea need to be resumed to enhance military vigilance against North Korean provocations, as they have been suspended following the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement.
In a parliamentary audit session, Marine Corps Commandant Lt. Gen. Kim Gye-hwan said military readiness has weakened on five front-line islands as live-fire exercises involving major military assets, including K-9 self-propelled howitzers, have not been held since the military tension reduction accord took effect.
The Comprehensive Military Agreement, signed under the previous liberal President Moon Jae-in, who sought inter-Korean reconciliation, calls for setting up maritime buffer zones that ban artillery firing and naval drills.
"(Marines) have been conducting live-fire exercises on land following the agreement. Inland drills pose several problems due to the relatively short range, which in turn affects our readiness posture," Kim said during the session held at the military headquarters in Gyeryong, 142 kilometers south of Seoul.
Kim said the Marines have been consulting with the defense ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to come up with effective ways to bolster vigilance near the maritime border against North Korean provocations.
"Live-fire drills on the islands can cut costs and help us maintain a readiness posture to be able to immediately respond," Kim said.
On Monday, Defense Minister Shin Won-sik visited a Marine Corps unit on the northwestern island of Yeonpyeong in the Yellow Sea, which was attacked by North Korea with artillery shells in 2010, and reiterated his call to suspend the military accord to better fend off North Korean threats.
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