BBC Learning English

Words in the News

20th December 2010

South Korea holds military drill





South Korea has held a training exercise with guns on Yeonpyeong Island. Four people were killed on the island last month, by a shell fired from North Korea. Pyongyang has again warned that the South was pushing the peninsula "to the brink of war". Chris Hogg reports.

South Korea has gone ahead with the military drills on Yeonpyeong Island despite warnings from China and Russia that they could provoke a confrontation with Pyongyang. For South Korea, it's a matter of sovereignty.

The military says the drills are on the southern side of the island. The government in Seoul halted the live-firing exercises when North Korea attacked last month, but doesn't want to give the impression that Pyongyang can deter it from carrying out defensive manoeuvres south of the disputed border.

The United States, which carried out joint military exercises with the South at the end of last month, has defended Seoul's right to stage the drills. South Korea says it has launched fighter jets to deter any North Korean attacks.

Chris Hogg, BBC News, Beijing





Words in the News

© British Broadcasting Corporation 2010



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Vocabulary and definitions



gone ahead

proceeded

drills

here, training exercises

warnings

advice or messages of concern

provoke a confrontation

deliberately make someone annoyed, with the aim of making them behave in an aggressive way sovereignty

the power that a country has to govern or rule itself live-firing

shooting real bullets from guns or other weapons carrying out

doing something or putting something into practice stage

organise or host

fighter jets

military planes

deter

here, to persuade a country not to do something More on this story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12039477



Read and listen to the story and the vocabulary online:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2010/12/101220_witn_korea_drill_page.shtml





Words in the News

© British Broadcasting Corporation 2010



Page 2 of 2

bbclearningenglish.com