Marine Corps conducts regular live-fire drills on western border islands

K9 self-propelled howitzers conduct live-fire drills on a western border island, Sept. 5, 2024. Courtesy of the Republic of Korea Marine Corps

The Marine Corps said Wednesday it staged live-fire drills on islands near the inter-Korean maritime border in the Yellow Sea, marking the second such exercise under the Lee Jae Myung administration.

The regular exercise took place on the islands of Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border, involving K9 self-propelled howitzers firing some 170 rounds into surrounding waters.

The Marine Corps last staged such live-fire drills on the western border islands in June. The latest exercise also marked the third such drills this year.

The artillery drills, which normally take place once every quarter, had been halted under the 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement, which bans all "hostile" activities between the two Koreas.

But they were resumed after the government of former conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol decided to entirely suspend the military pact last year in response to the North's trash-carrying balloon campaigns.

The Marine Corps staged the latest drills as planned despite speculation that the military may halt live-fire exercises on the western border islands in line with the government's efforts to mend ties with North Korea.

President Lee vowed to restore the military pact in a "proactive, gradual" manner during his Liberation Day address in August.

Waters near the NLL have been a flashpoint between the two Koreas, where three bloody naval skirmishes took place in 1999, 2002 and 2009. North Korea has never recognized the NLL, demanding it be redrawn further south.