Move FM Global News

SEOUL, South Korea: Amidst increasing tensions with North Korea, South Korea has held live-fire drills with U.S. Army Apache attack helicopters for the first time since 2019.

After being cancelled in recent years after complaints of noise and safety issues from local residents, training resumed at the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex just south of the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone along the border with North Korea.

Videos and photos released by the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division over the past week showed AH-64E v6 Apache helicopters engaged in certification drills.

On Twitter, the division reported, “Crews are qualifying during both day and night on the AGM-114 Hellfire missile, Hydra 70 rocket and 30mm canon.”

After the trainings were scaled back for several years to reduce tensions with Pyongyang and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the allies announced they would resume their joint exercises.

Joint drills will be normalized and defenses against the North will be ramped up, stressed South Korea’s new president Yoon Suk-yeol.

A defense ministry official also said the Apache drills will measure the level of noise they generate, in response to complaints.

A U.S. defense official told Reuters that the lack of live-fire training had been a “big problem” for U.S. pilots and crews.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said, “They were less ready by the time they left South Korea than when they arrived,” as reported by Reuters.

The administration of former South Korean President Moon Jae-in had no interest in overcoming the political problems and resuming the drills, the official added, predicting that Yoon would make more progress.