South Korea's military plans to train some 30,000 snipers in its reserve force from this year as it reinforces training programs for reservists amid high tensions with North Korea, officials said Thursday.
The South's military has about 3 million reservists, made up of people who completed about two years of mandatory military service in the recent eight years. In case of war, the reservists will be deployed to the war zone to provide support and regional stability.
"The military decided to start nurturing snipers at reserve units to cope with potential street battles and a rise in the number of North Korean special forces," said an official at the defense ministry.
The military will assign two reservist snipers to each squad of the Reserve Forces, which would bring the total number of such snipers to some 30,000, according to the official.
Armed with an M16A1 rifle and higher magnification optics, the reservists will be required to receive four hours of sniper training during their field exercises that take place for a few days every year, the official said on the condition of anonymity.
Last December, the ministry said in its biennial defense white paper that North Korea increased the number of its special forces troops by 20,000 to 200,000 over the past two years.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain high since the North's two deadly attacks that killed 50 South Koreans in the past year -- the March sinking of the Cheonan warship and the November shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.
The 1950-53 Korean War between the two sides ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the divided peninsula still technically at war. About 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea to deter threats from North Korea.(Yonhap)
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