Military to conduct border firing drills as planned despite loudspeaker campaign pause

The military was set to conduct artillery drills near the border with North Korea this week, officials said, in what would mark the first such exercise under the Lee Jae Myung government that has suspended loudspeaker broadcasts against North Korea along the border.

Under the plan, units under the Army’s 7th Division will conduct drills involving self-propelled howitzers at a front-line range located in Hwacheon, about 90 kilometers northeast of the capital, Wednesday and Thursday, according to the military.

The drills come amid speculations that the government could cease such border drills under Lee’s pledge to seek peace and stability in the border area.

As part of his election pledges, Lee vowed to restore a now-scrapped inter-Korean military reduction pact and halt leafleting and loudspeaker campaigns in the area.

The military suspended propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts toward North Korea along the heavily fortified border last week. Pyongyang halted its broadcasts of loud noise targeting the South in response.

South Korea fully suspended the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement in June last year in the wake of North Korea’s trash balloon campaigns and attempts to disrupt GPS signals near border islands.

The move enabled the military to resume drills to bolster front-line defenses. Previously, artillery and naval drills, as well as regiment-level field maneuvers, were banned due to land and maritime buffer zones set up in the area. No-fly zones had also been designated near the border to prevent accidental aircraft clashes.

The military has since conducted a number of ground and maritime artillery drills in the border area, with the Marine Corps also expected to hold its quarterly live-fire drills on the western border islands later this month.

In a June 12 press briefing, the defense ministry said the military has not yet received any order on a possible change in border drills.

“There is planned training this month … there are no changes so far,” ministry spokesperson Jeon Ha-kyou said.