SOUTH KOREA/AT SEA: U.S. and South Korea announce they will hold large joint naval drills against North Korea at East Sea

Record ID: 1382031

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA/AT SEA: U.S. and South Korea announce they will hold large joint naval drills against North Korea at East Sea
  • Date: 21st July 2010
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (JULY 20, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) SOUTH KOREAN NAVY GENERAL KIM KYUNG-SIK SAYING: "We will show off the strongest capabilities in the largest exercise among recent ones. The purpose of this drill is to confirm the strong will of the U.S.-South Korea alliance and to send a clear message of warning to North Korea
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2010 23:45
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVABR6IKI7I3O3ZZ9CAOQN6SV5I2
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: After a meeting of military leaders and two defense chiefs, U.S. and South Korea announced on Tuesday (July 20) there would be joint naval drills from July 25 against North Korea.
    U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday the planned military drills with ally South Korea would send a strong message of deterrence to the North, as Seoul signalled more U.S. sanctions ahead.
    Gates is on a three-day visit to South Korea at a moment of heightened tensions on the peninsula following the North's alleged sinking of a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 sailors. Pyongyang has denied responsibility.
    U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will join Gates for high level talks in Seoul on Wednesday focusing on the next steps against North Korea, a move high in symbolism for its alliance with the South. But it is fraught with risks in the face of China's unease in a region left volatile because of the actions by its ally, Pyongyang.
    Gates and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said after their meeting that their joint militaries would conduct a large-scale exercise aimed primarily deterring North Korea from any future attack.
    "We will show off the strongest capabilities in the largest exercise among recent ones. The purpose of this drill is to confirm the strong will of the U.S.-South Korea alliance and to send a clear message of warning to North Korea who made provocative acts," South Korean rear admiral Kim Kyung-sik told a news briefing after the meeting of Gates and Kim.
    The drills, initially considered to be staged near the scene of the torpedo attack off the west coast of the peninsula drew a strong response from China, the North's major ally.
    The first leg of the U.S.-South Korean joint exercises will be held in the seas east of the Korean peninsula from July 25-28. However they will stage drills in the west seas of the Korean peninsula in the future, a U.S. military general said.
    "By doing it, where we're doing it, we're getting the most training value out of the East Sea. It has strike training that we need to have, some of the ranges around the East coast. It has a capability that we're gonna exercise very thoroughly on that side. So we will have exercises in whichever sea that the ROK (South Korea) and U.S. alliance decide to do, and you'll see that those come in the future," U.S. Army General John MacDonald told a news briefing.
    China showed off its growing military might with naval drills of its own, with state TV images showing on Tuesday recent manoeuvres by its East Sea Fleet in the waters between its mainland and the Korean peninsula.
    South Korea and Washington have tried to put on a united front to present a message to the North that, despite having escaped an explicit condemnation by the Security Council, it would not be business as usual.
    The two Koreas are still technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce without a peace treaty.
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