Stung by a surprise underwater attack, South Korea flexed its muscles yesterday with anti-submarine drills while a US general offered strong words of support as the allies sent a clear message to adversary North Korea: Don’t try it again.
Pyongyang, however, wasted little time in responding, saying it would launch “immediate physical strikes” against South Korean ships that enter its waters as tensions spiked further a week after Seoul blamed the North for torpedoing the warship Cheonan.
Inter-Korean political and economic ties have been steadily deteriorating since the February 2008 inauguration of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who vowed a tougher line on the North and its nuclear program. The sinking of the Cheonan and the deaths of 46 sailors in March have returned military tensions — and the prospect of armed conflict — to the fore.
Off the South’s western coast, 10 warships, including a 3,175-tonne destroyer, fired artillery and other naval guns and dropped anti-submarine bombs during a one-day exercise to boost readiness, the navy said.
It was the first such drill since the Cheonan disaster, a navy official said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.
South Korea also is planning two major joint military drills with the US by July in a display of force intended to deter future aggression by the North, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The North has denied it attacked the Cheonan and says attempts to punish it would lead to war.
Yesterday, it announced that in retaliation for the South’s moves it would scrap an accord aimed at preventing accidental naval clashes with the South.
“Immediate physical strikes will be launched” against any South Korean ships that intrude into North Korean waters, the North’s military said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.
Despite the tensions, most analysts feel the prospect of a major war remains remote as Pyongyang knows what’s at stake.
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