SOUTH KOREA: Anti-terror drills staged as part of the annual contingency exercise by the administration while the joint military drill with the U.S. is ongoing, angering North Korea

Record ID: 351851

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA: Anti-terror drills staged as part of the annual contingency exercise by the administration while the joint military drill with the U.S. is ongoing, angering North Korea
  • Date: 18th August 2011
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (AUGUST 17, 2011) (REUTERS) PEOPLE PLAYING ROLE OF TERRORIST RUNNING POISON GAS ATTACK ON BUILDING VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PARTICIPATING IN THE DRILL ESCAPING FROM BUILDING POLICE VEHICLE ARRIVING POLICE GETTING OUT OF VEHICLE VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS POINTING GUNS FIRE BREAKING OUT FROM BUILDING VARIOUS OF FIREFIGHTERS REPELLING FROM BUILDING VARIOUS OF S
  • Embargoed: 2nd September 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Korea, Republic of
  • Country: South Korea
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAA27GTFX317G7I5C0WUQ3RR963
  • Story Text: South Korea staged an anti-terror drill on Wednesday (August 17) as part of the annual contingency exercise by the administration.
    The operations took place just as the country's military kicked off a joint military drill with the United States.
    The anti-terror drill demonstrated hypothetical terrorists committing a CBR (chemical, biological, and radiological) invasion at a big building, with fire-fighters extinguishing flames in the building.
    Captain Lee Jong-young said the drill tested the military's ability to cope with emergencies.
    "This drill was conducted to be ready to cope with a poisonous gas terror attack against urban infrastructures. It was a good chance to enhance our capability by establishing cooperation system and combined operations among civilians, administration, military and police in time of emergency," he said.
    Meanwhile, the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) exercise, which began on August 16 and will run through August 26, was ongoing on Wednesday despite the North's warning against it.
    Responding with the same rhetoric as it has in the past, the reclusive North said its military counteraction would be severe.
    Pyongyang, through the North's state-run television KRT, said the drill went against attempts for dialogue.
    "Our stance to preserve peace and denuclearization on the peninsula through dialogues and negotiations hasn't been changed. However, no attempt to harm the DPRK (North Korea) by force of army can go with dialogue. This will only bring out the merciless counteraction of our style," said the KRT news reader.
    Pyongyang has often turned to sabre-rattling to make a point, but analysts say it is unlikely to risk a full-blown war which would pit it against the combined might of the U.S. and South Korean militaries.
    Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been high since North Korea torpedoed a South Korean navy ship in March last year, killing 46 sailors.
    In November, a shelling attack on a South Korean island near the sea border killed four people including two civilians.
    North and South Korea are still technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce without a peace treaty.
    The two Koreas station about one million troops in their respective sides of the Demilitarized zone (DMZ) and about 40,000 U.S. troops are stationed in the South.
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