S. Korea, US Hold Live-Fire Drills Near Border With N. Korea

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) TOKYO, Feb 10 (KUNA) -- South Korea and US troops have been staging a large-scale combined live-fire exercise at a firing range near the inter-Korean border to enhance their joint operational capabilities, Seoul's Air Force said Monday, said Yonhap News Agency.
The three-week exercise began last Monday at a complex in Pocheon, about 30 km south of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, mobilizing some 2,000 troops and over 150 pieces of military hardware, according to the Army.
Troops of the allies have formed combined units to stage various drills, involving such as South Korean K1A2 tanks, US Stryker combat vehicles, Apache attack helicopters and A-10 attack aircraft, it said.
The drills are designed to strengthen the allies' combined operational capabilities and help the US military's rotational Stryker unit adjust to conditions on the Korean Peninsula after its arrival in South Korea last October, the report said.
Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has accused the US of standing behind the world's disputes, reaffirming the country's policy to further develop its nuclear forces, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday.
Kim made the remarks during his visit to the Ministry of National Defense the previous day in celebration of the 77th anniversary of the founding of its armed forces, the Korean People's Army.
Kim also claimed that US nuclear strategic assets deployed on the Korean Peninsula, the US-led nuclear war simulation exercises and the US-Japan-South Korea military cooperation are "inviting military imbalance" on the peninsula and in Northeast Asia, causing "a new conflicting structure" and posing a grave challenge to North Korea. (end)
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