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Marine Corps holds live-fire drills on Yellow Sea border islands

Published: 19 Feb. 2025, 17:37

K9 self-propelled howitzers take part in live-fire drills on an unspecified border island in the Yellow Sea on Feb. 19. [YONHAP]

The Marine Corps on Wednesday staged live-fire drills on islands near the tensely guarded western inter-Korean maritime border to boost readiness against North Korean military threats, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

The regular exercise, involving K9 self-propelled howitzers, took place on the islands of Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) — the de facto inter-Korean maritime boundary — amid heightened tensions from North Korea's missile launches this year.

"Our military [...] will continue to enhance the completeness of the western border island units' military readiness posture through regular maritime firing exercises going forward," the JCS said.

It described the drills as defensive in nature, noting they took place with international observers present and in accordance with the Armistice Agreement of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Marine Corps has regularly staged the live-fire exercise since June last year, when Seoul fully suspended an inter-Korean military pact restricting such drills in response to Pyongyang's trash balloon campaign and attempts to jam GPS signals around the NLL.

Waters near the NLL have been a flashpoint between the two Koreas, where three bloody naval skirmishes took place in 1999, 2002 and 2009.

In November 2010, North Korea bombarded Yeonpyeong Island, leaving two Marines and two civilians dead. The North also torpedoed a South Korean warship in waters near Baengnyeong Island in March that year, killing 46 sailors.

North Korea has never recognized the NLL, demanding that it be redrawn further south.

Pyongyang has recently ratcheted up tensions with multiple missile launches into waters off its coasts, including what it called sea-to-surface strategic cruise missiles on Jan. 25.

Yonhap