- Title: SOUTH KOREA: SOUTH KOREAN TROOPS HOLD ANTI-TERRORIST EXERCISE
- Date: 16th May 1996
- Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (MAY 16, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV THREE SOUTH KOREAN SOLDIERS PRETENDING TO BE "NORTH KOREAN GUERRILLAS" RUNNING AND ENTERING APARTMENT COMPOUND DURING MILITARY EXERCISES 0.07 2. LV/SV SOUTH KOREAN SOLDIERS PRETENDING TO BE "NORTH KOREAN KOREAN GUERRILLAS" HOLDING PERSON PRETENDING TO BE HOSTAGE
- Embargoed: 31st May 1996 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
- City:
- Country: South Korea
- Reuters ID: LVA605PPRE3WDDCP74OPRNTYQ8ZV
- Story Text: INTRO: South Korean troops held an anti-terrorist exercise in Seoul on Thursday (May 16), the third day of a five-day military drill. The aim of the exercise was to prepare for possible surprise attacks by North Korea's special commando groups in Seoul.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- The South Korean military held an anti-terrorist exercise in Seoul on Thursday (May 16), the third day of a five-day military drill.
Special task force members of South Korea's military police unit were mobilised to capture mock enemy guerrillas who were holding soldiers pretending to be hostages at an apartment compound.
The aim of the exercise was to prepare for possible surprise attacks by North Korea's special commando groups in Seoul.
"We are testing now the capability of our special task force of military police unit to handle terrorists' attack from North Korea," said captain Park Hyon-ryul.
Hundreds of South Korean soldiers pretending to be enemies of the state roamed the streets of Seoul as part of a nationwide Hwarnag Exercise 96.
As part of the exercise, citizens were advised to report anyone they saw acting suspiciously since soldiers would be in disguise acting as enemies and spies.
"This exercise is to train our citizens to be able to recognise spies, and report them. This is in case they run into real North Korean spies," a Defence Ministry official said.
The drill involved government officials, policemen, and officials of state companies.
South and North Korea have been technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War.
Last month, Pyongyang nnounced it would no longer honour the armistice that ended the Korean War. This was followed by three incursions by North Korean troops into the joint security area in the village of Panmunjom, the only crossing point in the Demilitarised Zone dividing the two Koreas.
The incursions violated the armistice agreement, which allows only 35 military policemen, carrying sidearms, from each side to enter the area at any one time.
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