Military ups readiness against possible NK provocations ahead of joint drills with US

• Published date: 04 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

Col. Lee Sung-jun, right, spokesperson of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, and U.S. Forces Korea spokesperson Col. Isaac L. Taylor address a joint press conference on combined military drills at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, March 3. Yonhap

South Korea's military has increased its readiness level against possible North Korean provocations ahead of the combined springtime military exercise with the United States set to begin later this month, sources said Saturday.

The military is prepared to fire artillery shots into "buffer zones" in the North as a countermeasure if Pyongyang violates the 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement by firing into the South's buffer zones first, a military source told Yonhap News Agency on the condition of anonymity.

The tension reduction pact, also dubbed the Sept. 19 agreement, calls for halting all hostile military activity between the two Koreas. It was signed after a 2018 summit between then President Moon Jae-in and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un.

The remarks came ahead of the Freedom Shield exercise, scheduled to take place from March 13 to 23, amid Pyongyang's continuing military provocations.

The North has violated the Sept. 19 agreement by firing artillery shots into maritime "buffer zones" between the Koreas on 13...