The US is considering dispatching the massive aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the waters where North Korea allegedly sank a South Korean warship, defense officials said on Wednesday.
Deployment of the nuclear-powered carrier, one of the world’s largest warships, would represent a major show of force by the US, which has vowed to protect South Korea and is seeking to blunt aggression from North Korea.
An international investigation last month blamed the North for torpedoing a South Korean navy vessel, the Cheonan, in March, killing 46 sailors.
Two US defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been made, said that a decision on deployment was likely by the end of this week.
The allies will stage a major anti-submarine exercise next week in the Yellow Sea, the South Korean Defense Ministry said yesterday. The four-day drill will start on Monday, it said.
The US defense officials said the George Washington’s deployment would be separate from the exercises.
The deployment of the aircraft carrier would be seen as a particularly aggressive move by the US because of its sheer size. A Navy Web site says the carrier is just over 74m high from keel to mast and can accommodate about 6,250 crewmembers.
US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday in a message to the Korea Society annual dinner in New York that he would work with Seoul to “deter aggression” and hold the North accountable for its torpedo attack.
“We will work with allies and partners to hold North Korea accountable, including at the United Nations Security Council, making it clear that security and respect for North Korea will never come through aggression, but only by upholding its obligations,” he said.
Meanwhile, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young left for a security forum in Singapore yesterday as Seoul stepped up its diplomatic campaign to haul Pyongyang in front of the UN Security Council.
Kim will meet with US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Japanese counterpart Toshimi Kitazawa tomorrow, his office said. He will also hold a series of talks with the defense chiefs of other countries on the sideline of the Asia Security Summit.
In other developments, the South is ready to ask the Security Council to censure the North over the warship sinking, but is waiting for the “best time,” South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Chun Yung-woo said on Wednesday.
“I have discussed when would be the best time to refer this case to the Security Council,” Chun said about his meeting with Mexican UN Ambassador Claude Heller, who is president of the council this month.
Asked when he would submit a letter formally requesting that the council take up the issue, Chun said: “At some point.”
“When the council is ready to take this issue, then we will submit the letter,” he said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
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