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Joint South Korea-U.S. military drills begin
SEOUL, July 25 (Yonhap) -- A massive U.S. aircraft carrier sailed toward the Korean Peninsula's east coast Sunday as South Korea and the U.S. launched large-scale military exercises in a show of force against North Korea accused of sinking a South Korean warship that killed several dozen sailors.The USS George Washington, along with several guided-missile destroyers from the two allies, left the southern South Korean port of Busan around 7:00 a.m., said an official at the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command. Code-named "Invincible Spirit," the four-day naval and air exercises in the East Sea are the first in a series planned by the allies in the coming months. The annual "Ulchi Freedom Guardian" in mid-August is the next scheduled event. This week's drills brought the 97,000-ton George Washington plus a fleet of some 20 ships and more than 200 aircraft. F-22 Raptors, a new powerful U.S. Air Force asset, will fly training missions for the first time in Korean airspace. Pyongyang bristled at the drills, threatening Saturday it will start "a retaliatory sacred war." "The more desperately the U.S. imperialists brandish their nukes and the more zealously their lackeys follow them, the more rapidly the DPRK's nuclear deterrence will be bolstered up along the orbit of self-defense," the North's National Defense Commission said in a statement. "The army and people of the DPRK will start a retaliatory sacred war of their own style based on nuclear deterrent any time necessary in order to counter the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of a war." the statement said. China, the North's closest ally, has also opposed the maneuvers. The venue of the drills reportedly was changed from the Yellow Sea to the East Sea to address China's concern. In terms of military assets, this week's joint drills are the biggest since 1976, when the allies staged exercises in response to the ax murders of two U.S. Army officers by North Korean soldiers at the truce village of Panmunjom. "By displaying the sheer size of military capabilities, the drills will deliver a stark warning to North Korea," Rear Adm. Kim Kyung-shik of South Korean Navy told reporters.
Posted by: Steve White 2010-07-25 |
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