Seoul:
The South Korean military has held its first firing exercise of the year, more than a month after North Korea's deadly shelling of a front-line island.
The drills, which took place in Incheon on Thursday, signalled South Korea's ongoing determination to demonstrate and hone its military strength at the risk of further escalation of tension with North Korea.
In November 2010, routine South Korean live-fire drills from Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea triggered a shower of North Korean artillery that killed two marines and two construction workers.
It was the first military attack on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce.
North Korea claims the waters around the South Korean-held island, lying just seven miles (11 kilometres) from its shores, as its territory.
It has accused the South of sparking the exchange by ignoring Pyongyang's warnings against staging the live-fire drills near their disputed maritime border.
Amid international concerns of all-out war on the tense Korean peninsula, South Korea has pushed ahead with military exercises.
Thursday's drill was conducted by the army's Aviation Operation Headquarters and involved Cobra helicopters equipped with Vulcan artillery launchers capable of firing 750 shots per minute.
Commander Myung-hyun Bae said: "I will do my best to promote our field unit (and help it) to be specialised in combat, which (it) will always win."