(LEAD) S. Korea, U.S. hold joint emergency runway drills

(ATTN: CHANGES photo)

SEOUL, March 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korean and U.S. Air Forces staged landing and takeoff drills on an emergency runway Tuesday, officials said, following North Korea's claims that its multiple rocket launcher is powerful enough to destroy an enemy airfield.

The exercise took place in the southern county of Changnyeong, 347 kilometers southeast of Seoul, mobilizing some 10 aircraft, including the South's C-130 and CN-235 transport aircraft and the U.S.' A-10 attack warplane and MC-130J combat transport aircraft, according to Seoul's Air Force.

Maj. Gen. Choi Chun-song, commander of the Air Force's Air Mobility & Reconnaissance Command, and the U.S. Special Operations Command-Korea Commander Maj. Gen. Michael E. Martin oversaw the drills.

During the drills, South Korean and U.S. Combat Control Teams secured the safety of the emergency runway before radioing aircraft pilots permission to land, the armed service said.

"Emergency runway landing and takeoff training is essential in order to maintain air operations in places other than air bases," Col. Lee Duk-hee, in charge of the drills' planning, was quoted as saying. "Through repeated realistic training, (we) will continue to strengthen combined wartime and emergency runway operational capabilities."

Last month, the North said it fired two shells from the 600-mm multiple rocket launcher, raising speculation that it could target a key South Korean air base in Cheongju, 122 km south of Seoul, and a U.S. air base in Gunsan, 179 km south of the capital.

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
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