According to the Army on Tuesday, South Korean artillery forces conducted live-fire exercises this week close to the inter-Korean border, hitting targets within a US firing range for the first time in seven years.

Twelve K9A1 self-propelled howitzers and six K55A1s were mobilised for the exercises, which were conducted Monday near the Imjin River in Paju, which is approximately 30 kilometres northwest of Seoul. The K55A1s fired roughly 60 rounds at targets in the Story Live Fire Complex, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Since Seoul completely cancelled a 2018 inter-Korean tension reduction agreement last June because to the North’s mass releases of balloons carrying rubbish over the border, it was the first time South Korean military had conducted such exercises at the shooting range.

The agreement prohibited the two Koreas from conducting extensive military training and artillery drills along the border. South Korean military will be able to use the training range again after the United States and South Korea signed a memorandum of understanding last month.

Following Seoul’s suspension of the 2018 agreement, the Army has already begun artillery operations at two more firing ranges close to the border.

“With the resumption of (artillery drills) against targets at Story, they have all been normalised,” a spokesperson for the Army said.

The Army said that it anticipates improving its firepower operations and long-range shooting capabilities to “immediately” react to North Korean artillery attacks with the return of live-fire artillery exercises at the training range.