South Korea conducted a live-fire exercise with a Chunmoo multiple launch rocket system (MLRS), designed to counter North Korea’s long-range artillery, on Thursday evening, a move which one expert says is likely a warning signal to Pyongyang amid rising security tensions of the peninsula.

Seoul’s live-fire exercise takes place against a backdrop of heightened tensions, as North Korea recently hinted at a constitutional change to officially label South Korea as the “absolute enemy,” after blowing up border roads linking to the South on Tuesday. 

The drill, carried out by units of the ROK Army’s First Corps near Goseong in