The South Korean military has conducted a river-crossing drill with US forces. Members of the media were allowed to watch. The military apparently wanted to display its capabilities amid North Korea's provocations.

A total of more than 1,000 South Korean and US troops took part in the drill in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province on Wednesday. The drill was part of a regular field maneuver exercise that began on Monday.

The South Korean and US engineering units constructed pontoon bridges across a 300-meter-wide river. The drill was designed to simulate responses to bridges being knocked out.

Tanks and armored vehicles crossed the floating bridges while South Korean military helicopters flew above them.

A South Korean lieutenant colonel participating in the exercise said drills of those kind are extremely important, given the Korean Peninsula's geography. There are many rivers on the peninsula. The colonel said his troops and the US soldiers were able to assess their capabilities.

Captain Sean Kasprisin, a company commander in the US Army, said the drill demonstrated the strength of the alliance between the two countries.

The South Korean military says the aim of the exercise is to practice responding to various potential threats, including those posed by North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles.

The North has repeatedly fired artillery shells toward the sea, off the eastern and western sides of the Korean Peninsula. It has described its actions as countermeasures to the South's ongoing military drills. More responses are likely to come.