South Korean Marines Hold Live-Fire Drills on Border Islands

South Korean marines conducted a full-scale live-fire exercise on two islands near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) - the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas, Yonhap news agency reported on June 26.

This is the first live-fire exercise by South Korean marines on these border islands in seven years.

According to the announcement of the South Korean military, the exercise took place on the two islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong in the Yellow Sea, south of the NLL, deploying Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers, Spike anti-tank missiles and K9 self-propelled guns.

Units participating in the exercise fired more than 290 live rounds towards the waters off the two islands.

The last time South Korean marines conducted full-scale live-fire drills on the two islands was in August 2017, a year before the two Koreas signed a military pact on measures to reduce tensions, including a halt to live-fire drills in waters near the NLL.

In early June, South Korea decided to completely suspend the treaty.

North Korea launched a ballistic missile into the East Sea on the morning of June 26. Following the launch, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said that nuclear envoys from the country, the United States and Japan discussed joint efforts to stabilize the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Director-General of the Korean Peninsula Policy Bureau at the South Korean Foreign Ministry Lee Jun-il shared his assessment of North Korea's latest missile launch with his counterparts Jung Park (US) and Yukiya Hamamoto (Japan).

In a press release, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said the three sides considered the launch a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, posing a serious threat to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula as well as to the international community.

North Korea appears to have test-fired a hypersonic missile, but the test is believed to have ended in failure after flying about 250km, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. South Korea is conducting an in-depth analysis of the launch in coordination with the US.

The launch came after North Korea criticized the presence of the US aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in a South Korean port on June 22, as the US, South Korea and Japan plan to conduct a trilateral exercise called Freedom Edge later this month.

North Korea has warned that it is ready to take strong deterrent measures against this move. North Korea has long condemned joint military exercises between the US and South Korea as well as the US's deployment of strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula.