Changchun, China -- During a North Korean civilian-government joint military training exercise, which was undertaken in response to the Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG), a joint U.S.-Korean military exercise, there was a training accident in which three women were killed and 15 were seriously injured.

A source from Yangkang Province talked to the Daily NK on the telephone on the 30th, “During the wartime operational command maneuvers carried out in Hyesan, Yangkang Province on August 27, a sergeant, who took a rifle drill, fired a recoilless gun by mistake towards trainees, so three women were killed on the spot and 15 were wounded.”

North Korea stated that the UFG was a “provocative move against the Republic (North Korea)” and carried out the Wartime Operational Command Maneuvers, a joint civilian and military training exercise that ran from August 17 to 27. The training in Yangkang Province was co-sponsored by the 10th Corps of the North Korean People’s Army and the civil defense corps of Yangkang Province.

The women belonged to the March 18th Battalion. At the time of the accident they were training in the use of recoilless guns by the Heochon River in Kanggu-dong.

The March 18 Battalion is comprised of women over 35 years old who have been discharged from the Worker’s and Peasant’s Red Guard, a reserve force used for logistical support duties including munitions production and medical services in wartime. The victims were nurses from the Hyesan Municipal Hospital and workers from the Hyesan Paper and Textile Mills.

The source reported, “The training had been carried out by soldiers on service and accordingly, from the 25th to 27th, by the Local Reserve Forces and the Worker and Peasant Red Guard.”

He added, “In every military training, a few participants used to be killed by incidents. During the winter drill early this year, all members of a squad belonging to the 10th Army Corps were frozen to death around the Jehrdang Ridge in Hyesan.”