Relations between North and South Korea are very tense right now, in part because of an incident in which two South Korean soldiers were maimed by mines, and in part because of this: A massive live-fire drill performed jointly by South Korean and U.S. forces. It simulates, in part, a full-scale mechanized assault onto North Korean soil, and it is absurdly intense to watch.

The drill took place on Friday and is the largest ever performed in South Korea, jointly with the U.S. or not, according to a defense military spokesman who talked to the AFP. The drill kicked off with a simulated attack on a South Korean guard-post, although it was initially intended to be a simulated attack on the loudspeaker arrays currently shouting messages over the border into North Korea. Plans changed after that basically happened on Tuesday.

Here's nearly 10 minutes of explosions and flying and tanks and explosions from the drill, which according to AFP, included 3,000 US and South Korean soldiers, 100 tanks and armored vehicles, 120 heavy guns, 45 helicopters and over 40 jet fighters.

It is highly recommend you watch it full-screen with the quality set to 1080p60 (if your connection can handle it), and the volume cranked.

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Live fire exercises like this (but not always as large scale) are an annual affair for South Korea, as is Pyongyang's threats of retaliation should they continue. Clearly if this does escalate to war, the fire power here would kill thousands if brought to bear, a sobering thing to consider in the face of any awesome explosion. But for now, it's one hell of a fireworks show.

Source: AFP, Foxtrot Alpha

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io