ID :
210240
Thu, 09/29/2011 - 12:43
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/210240
The shortlink copeid
Army beefs up arsenal against possible N. Korean attacks on border speakers
GYERYONGDAE, South Korea, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Army beefed up its military arsenal to cope with a potential attack by North Korea's special forces on propaganda loudspeakers set up along the tense border with the North, military officials said Thursday.
The South's military resumed its anti-Pyongyang propaganda operations last year after a six-year moratorium as part of a package of reprisals for the North's sinking of the Cheonan warship, but has yet to resume the anti-Pyongyang broadcasts using the loudspeakers.
The North's armed forces have threatened to fire at the loudspeakers if they are switched on.
To help thwart a possible attack by North Korea, the South's Army has flown unmanned surveillance aircraft equipped with infrared cameras and deployed more weapons such as anti-tank missiles, the K30 Biho self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and AN/TPQ-36 mobile radar systems, officials said.
The Army has also drawn up case-by-case contingency plans to deal with possible North Korean attacks on the loudspeakers, according to the officials.
"The Army is repeatedly holding maneuvers to respond case-by-case to such emergencies," a military official said on the condition of anonymity.
The plans were unveiled to a group of lawmakers during an annual parliamentary audit into the military held at the Gyeryongdae military headquarters in South Chungcheong Province, some 160 kilometers south of Seoul.
South Korea had used the loudspeakers for anti-North psychological operations until 2004, when the two Koreas agreed to halt government-level cross-border propaganda.
Inter-Korean tensions remain high following the North's sinking of the Cheonan warship and its shelling of Yeonpyeong Island last year, which killed a total of 50 South Koreans.
The South's military resumed its anti-Pyongyang propaganda operations last year after a six-year moratorium as part of a package of reprisals for the North's sinking of the Cheonan warship, but has yet to resume the anti-Pyongyang broadcasts using the loudspeakers.
The North's armed forces have threatened to fire at the loudspeakers if they are switched on.
To help thwart a possible attack by North Korea, the South's Army has flown unmanned surveillance aircraft equipped with infrared cameras and deployed more weapons such as anti-tank missiles, the K30 Biho self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and AN/TPQ-36 mobile radar systems, officials said.
The Army has also drawn up case-by-case contingency plans to deal with possible North Korean attacks on the loudspeakers, according to the officials.
"The Army is repeatedly holding maneuvers to respond case-by-case to such emergencies," a military official said on the condition of anonymity.
The plans were unveiled to a group of lawmakers during an annual parliamentary audit into the military held at the Gyeryongdae military headquarters in South Chungcheong Province, some 160 kilometers south of Seoul.
South Korea had used the loudspeakers for anti-North psychological operations until 2004, when the two Koreas agreed to halt government-level cross-border propaganda.
Inter-Korean tensions remain high following the North's sinking of the Cheonan warship and its shelling of Yeonpyeong Island last year, which killed a total of 50 South Koreans.
