Military holds first NLL live-fire drills under President Lee Jae Myung

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Military holds first NLL live-fire drills under President Lee Jae Myung

Published: 25 Jun. 2025, 18:44

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

The 6th Marine Brigade and the Yeonpyeong unit hold a military drill at the Northwest Islands Defense Command headquarters on June 25. [REPUBLIC OF KOREA MARINE CORPS]

For the first time under the Lee Jae Myung administration, the South Korean military conducted live-fire drills near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, off the coasts of Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong Islands.

The exercise comes after the full suspension of the inter-Korean military agreement, signed on Sept. 19, 2018, last June and the subsequent resumption and institutionalization of live-fire drills in the northwestern islands. Lee had pledged during his campaign to restore the Sept. 19 agreement. However, the military says that unless it receives separate orders, it will carry out the drills as scheduled.

According to the Northwest Islands Defense Command of the Marine Corps, the 6th Marine Brigade and the Yeonpyeong unit fired some 200 rounds using K9 self-propelled howitzers and other standard weapons. The Marine Corps emphasized that the live-fire drills took place in “our waters, south of the NLL” and characterized the exercise as a routine and scheduled drill aimed at mastering combat procedures.

“The Northwest Islands Defense Command will continue to do its utmost to defend territorial sovereignty and maintain combat readiness for service members stationed in the area,” the corps said in a statement.

This was the first live-fire drill in the northwestern islands since Lee was inaugurated earlier this month following the June 3 presidential election. Despite having consistently promoted the message that military action in border areas should be minimized to reduce tensions with North Korea, Lee had also vowed to revive the Sept. 19 agreement during his campaign.

The Republic of Korea Marine Corps' 6th Brigade and the Yeonpyeong unit hold a military drill at the Northwest Islands Defense Command headquarters on June 25. [REPUBLIC OF KOREA MARINE CORPS]

The agreement, signed in 2018, carried legal effect after being ratified by the Cabinet and published in the official gazette. A similar process is expected if the agreement is to be reinstated.

Nonetheless, the military maintains that absent instructions from the presidential office or a Cabinet decision, it will continue to execute scheduled drills. The latest drill, it explained, was part of a training schedule set after the former Yoon Suk Yeol administration voted to fully suspend the Sept. 19 agreement in a Cabinet meeting last June.

The military resumed live-fire drills on June 26 of that year on Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong Islands, firing more than 290 rounds using K9 howitzers, the Chunmoo rocket artillery system and Spike missiles. Since then, such exercises have taken place quarterly.

Training plans are typically drawn up on an annual basis, with the number of shells to be fired in live-fire drills determined in advance — meaning that drills are already scheduled through at least the second half of this year.

The most recent drill before Wednesday’s was in February, when the military conducted maritime live-fire training with K9 howitzers. That marked the first such exercise in the northwestern islands since Yoon declared martial law on Dec. 3, 2024. The Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time stressed that the drills were “defensive in nature and regularly conducted to maintain combat readiness.”

North Korea seen from Yeonpyeong Island on June 27, 2024 [NEWS1]

However, the future visibility or even implementation of such exercises could be influenced by how North Korea responds to them. Earlier this month, after South Korea stopped loudspeaker broadcasts along the border, the North followed by halting its own noise broadcasts. Despite having taken measures to cut off ties with the South, the North reacted immediately to the broadcast suspension.

Last year, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un denounced the NLL as “a ghost line” with no basis in international law and hinted at establishing new maritime boundaries such as a “middle line zone.”

There is precedent for reducing the visibility of military drills. In May 2020, under the Moon Jae-in administration, North Korea reacted sensitively to joint defense drills in the northwestern islands. The presidential office subsequently instructed the military to adopt a “low-key” approach to the public disclosure of military exercises. After North Korea condemned the drills as a “complete violation” of the inter-Korean military agreement, the National Security Office convened a media coordination meeting with the Ministry of National Defense, JCS and public affairs officers from the Army, Navy and Air Force.

At the time, a presidential office official told reporters that the meeting took place “to discuss the causes of North Korea’s provocative response and what steps should be taken going forward.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY LEE YU-JUNG [[email protected]]