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Military continues fire drills near Northern Limit Line

Published: 24 Sep. 2025, 17:51

Hanwha Aerospace's K9 self-propeller howitzer [HANHWA AEROSPACE]

Despite President Lee Jae Myung’s announcement of a new North Korea policy prioritizing inter-Korean exchanges, South Korea’s military carried out a live fire drill near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea as scheduled.

The NLL is a de facto maritime boundary in the Yellow Sea between South and North Korea. The decision suggests the government believes there is insufficient justification to cancel planned exercises while Pyongyang has shown no visible shift in its stance.

The 6th Marine Brigade and Yeonpyeong Unit, under the Northwest Islands Defense Command, fired around 170 rounds from K9 self-propelled howitzers at a maritime range near the western sea border, according to the Marine Corps on Wednesday.

While the 6th Brigade typically operates multiple weapons systems — including the K9, Cheonmu multiple rocket launchers and Spike anti-tank missiles — this drill focused primarily on K9 artillery. The live fire was directed at simulated targets in South Korean waters south of the NLL.

“This was a routine defensive drill conducted in our territorial waters south of the NLL,” a Marine Corps official said.

It marked the second such drill under the Lee administration, following one in June.

While the Lee administration has taken steps to ease tensions with the North — including suspending loudspeaker broadcasts and dismantling equipment near the border — and declared its intent to restore the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement made in 2018, it has not suspended military drills newly permitted after the previous administration suspended the pact.

President Lee also proposed a road map for denuclearization at the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, dubbed the E.N.D. Initiative — an acronym for “Exchange, Normalization and Denuclearization” — in which exchange and normalization are prioritized ahead of disarmament.

Nonetheless, military authorities continue with artillery drills within 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) and live fire exercises on the northwest border islands — both of which were banned under the 2018 inter-Korean agreement. The Army also conducted an artillery drill near the MDL earlier this month.

While some joint field exercises were postponed during the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises in August, the Defense Ministry said only the timing changed, not the scale.

The administration appears cautious about unilaterally accelerating conciliatory measures — particularly given that Pyongyang has yet to reciprocate or reverse its hard-line posture. The lack of momentum for fully reinstating the Sept. 19 military accord may also reflect concern about domestic and international backlash, suggesting a strategic “adjustment of pace.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY LEE YU-JUNG [[email protected]]