LOC12:12
09:12 GMT
TOKYO, Oct 27 (KUNA) -- Special forces of South Korea and the US have recently carried out a joint exercise to practice "surgical strikes" against North Korea's nuclear and missile facilities, Yonhap News Agency reported Thursday.
"The US Air Force's 353rd Special Operations Group conducted a combined striking exercise against an enemy's facilities with the South Korean Army's special forces brigade," a defense official was quoted as saying.
Under the drill at a military base in Gunsan, 274 kilometers south of Seoul, the two allies focused on sending their special forces into North Korea through fixed-wing aircraft in the event of a conflict on the Korean peninsula, he said. The allies have regularly carried out this drill since the 1990s, but it is rare to make it public.
The official said releasing information is mainly due to escalating tensions on the peninsula and in the Asia-Pacific region due to the North's continued nuclear and missile development programs.
North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test last month despite international sanctions imposed on the communist regime following its fourth detonation in January. Moreover, the North has launched a series of ballistic missiles as it moves forward with its stated goal of developing a nuclear-tipped intercontinental missile that can reach the US mainland. (end)
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