TOKYO (Sputnik) — During the audit held in the Army's Kyeryongdae military headquarters South Korean military officials said that the special forces were aimed to resist possible provocations from North Korea amid nuclear and missile threats.
"The Army is seeking to have a special operations unit capable of infiltrating [enemy territory], completing its given mission and coming back in one piece," Army Chief of Staff Jang Jun-kyu was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.
The MH-47 series helicopters, which are considered to be supplied to South Korean Army, are modifications of the US helicopters Chinook, according to the country's military. They are equipped with aerial refueling and a radar system.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula intensified in September after the North claimed to have successfully exploded a nuclear warhead, having previously detonated a hydrogen bomb in January.
The September 9 test is believed to be the fifth and largest blast since Pyongyang began pursuing nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The UN Security Council condemned it as a repeated violation of its resolutions.