SOUTH KOREA: PRESIDENT ROH MOO-HYUN SAYS SPECULATION THAT NOTH KOREA IS NEXT TARGET OF U.S. WAR PLANS AFTER IRAQ IS "INNACCURATE AND GROUNDLESS"

Record ID: 566100

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA: PRESIDENT ROH MOO-HYUN SAYS SPECULATION THAT NOTH KOREA IS NEXT TARGET OF U.S. WAR PLANS AFTER IRAQ IS "INNACCURATE AND GROUNDLESS"
  • Date: 23rd March 2003
  • Summary: (W2) PAJU, SOUTH KOREA (MARCH 23, 2003) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FORCE ON FORCE BATTLE TRAINING BY U.S. AND SOUTH KOREAN ARMIES (9 SHOTS) SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) GENERAL JAMES COGGINS SAYING "Everyone is very aware in what's going on in the Middle East this morning. We know many of our friends are over there. But we have a very real mission here, too. We are aware of the tensions and (which) developed here on the Peninsula. We are very resolute in our mission to defend South Korea. That is our true purpose." VARIOUS: MORE OF TRAINING, TANKS AND APC'S (7 SHOTS) SV: U.S. AND SOUTH KOREAN TANK CREW POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) CAPTAIN KIM KANG-CHOL SAYING "It was a very meaningful and precious experience as I learned U.S. Forces' strategic exchanges and detailed operations in a battle. It contributes to performing combined operations in the future as international partners." VARIOUS OF CAPTAIN KIM SHAKING HANDS WITH HIS AMERICAN COUNTERPART (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 7th April 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SEOUL AND PAJU, SOUTH KOREA
  • Country: South Korea
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5J7E8OWTUL8F55WV35APVIGGJ
  • Story Text: South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has said speculation that North Korea is the next target of U.S. war plans after Iraq was "inaccurate and groundless".
    Roh's spokeswoman made the statement on Monday (March 24) after the South Korean president met with his chief secretaries to discuss the U.S.-led war on Iraq.
    "President Roh Moo-hyun expressed concern at today's presidential chief secretaries' meeting by saying that the speculation of of U.S.'s possible attack at North Korea is inaccurate and groundless," Chief Presidential Spokeswoman Song Kyung-hee (pron: SONG-KEEONG-HEE) told a news briefing.
    Song did not say where the speculation came from. North Korea and some pro-North South Korean groups have said the United States plans to strike the North.
    "He also said all the responsible U.S. officials had told him Iraq is a totally different case from North Korea and they wanted a peaceful resolution of the problem," Song added.
    North Korea -- which Washington has linked with Iraq and Iran in an "axis of evil" -- is locked in a stand-off with Washington and Seoul over its suspected nuclear ambitions.
    On Saturday (March 22), North Korea postponed working-level talks with the South, blaming South Korea for beefing up its defences after U.S.-led forces launched military strikes against Iraq.
    Seoul has denied raising the alert status of its military.
    On Sunday (March 23), U.S. and South Korean armies staged a force on force battle training as part of their annual combined military exercise amid North Korea's continuing criticism.
    In the training, the two armies played parts as defender and attacker and simulated a battle situation with heavy armoured vehicles.
    U.S. forces, the defenders, mobilised 185 soldiers, four Bradely armoured vehicles and the tanks used various strategies to block South Korean attackers with 650 soldiers, 22 tanks and 14 infantry fighting vehicles.
    A U.S. officer said now the world's focus is on Iraq with the war, but the resolute of USFK's stationing in South Korea remains unchanged.
    "Everyone is very aware in what's going on in the Middle East this morning. We know many of our friends are over there.
    But we have a very real mission here, too. We are aware of the tensions and (which) developed here on the Peninsula. We are very resolute in our mission to defend South Korea. That is our true purpose," said General James Coggins, referring to developments on the Korean Peninsula after Washington said North Korea admitted its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
    The Sunday's training was a part of the two armies' annual FOAL Eagle, which started in mid March and will be over in early April.
    South Korea hosts 37,000 U.S. troops in more than 90 military bases throughout the country and the military alliance between the two dates back to the 1950-53 Korean War.
    A South Korean captain who participated in the training said the joint exercise would enable the South Korean soldiers to perform a combined operation in the future.
    "It was a very meaningful and precious experience as I learned U.S. Forces' strategic exchanges and detailed operations in a battle. It contributes to performing combined operations in the future as international partners," said Captain Kim Kang-chol (pron: KIM KAHNG-CHEOL).
    The combined exercise came amid North Korea's criticism about the training and rising tension in the Korean peninsula.
    GULF WAR 3
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