[Exclusive] Live-Fire Training in Forward Areas Starting Next Week [Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club]

Marine Corps Deploys K9 Self-Propelled Howitzers in Northwest Islands
Army Conducts Live-Fire MLRS High-Explosive Shell Drills in Boryeong, Chungnam

The military will begin full-scale live-fire training starting next week. This comes about 20 days after the government suspended the effectiveness of the September 19 Inter-Korean Military Agreement on the 4th of this month, raising military tensions between the South and North to a peak.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 20th, a government official stated, "Starting next week, each branch of the military will conduct live-fire training to mark the anniversary of the Korean War." The Marine Corps will conduct live-fire training using K9 self-propelled howitzers around the northwestern islands such as Baengnyeongdo and Yeonpyeongdo early next week. The Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to post the training schedule on the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency's navigation warning site this weekend to notify in advance. If the Marine Corps proceeds with live-fire training, it will be the first such exercise in 5 years and 9 months since the September 19 Military Agreement was signed in September 2018.

The September 19 Military Agreement is an annex agreement to the "September Pyongyang Joint Declaration," adopted during the summit between former President Moon Jae-in and North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un on September 19, 2018. The military agreement prohibits artillery training in the West Sea buffer zone. Due to this agreement, the Marine Corps has relocated K9 self-propelled howitzers deployed on Yeonpyeongdo and Baengnyeongdo hundreds of kilometers inland to conduct firing exercises on the mainland.

Following the Marine Corps, the Army plans to conduct live-fire training with high-explosive rounds for the K-239 'Cheonmu' multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) in Boryeong, Chungnam, on the 25th. The military intends to continue frontline firing exercises going forward. Firing ranges within 5 km of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), the buffer zone for hostile acts, such as the Story Firing Range in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, can be used.