The South Korean military has resumed artillery drills near the land border area for the first time in almost six years after the suspension of an inter-Korean tension reduction agreement. 

According to a military source, the drills were held at two front-line ranges in Gyeonggi and Gangwon Provinces, involving K9 self-propelled howitzers. 

The ranges, located within five kilometers south of the Military Demarcation Line(MDL), had not been used for artillery firing drills since the signing of a military agreement between the two Koreas in September 2018.

The deal, signed during the Moon Jae-in administration, included an agreement to halt all military exercises targeting each other near the MDL.

However, the government fully suspended the deal last month in response to North Korea’s continued provocations, including launches of trash-carrying balloons across the border, GPS jamming attacks, and ballistic missile launches.