The US and South Korea will launch joint military exercises on Sunday to sharpen their readiness against North Korean aggression, the allies’ defense chiefs said yesterday, despite warnings from Pyongyang that the drills would only deepen tension on the Korean peninsula.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Washington and Seoul want to send a “clear message” to North Korea by holding military exercises after the March sinking of a South Korean warship.
Forty-six South Korean sailors were killed in the sinking, which an international investigation pinned on a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine near the Koreas’ tense sea border. The waters have been the site of several bloody skirmishes in recent years.
“These defensive, combined exercises are designed to send a clear message to North Korea that its aggressive behavior must stop, and that we are committed to together enhancing our combined defensive capabilities,” Gates and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said in a joint statement issued yesterday after their talks.
North Korea flatly denies the accusations, and has said that any punishment would trigger war.
Gates arrived in South Korea late on Monday for a series of high-profile security talks with South Korean officials. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is to join a conference with Gates and their South Korean counterparts on today.
The US and South Korea say North Korea must pay for the sinking of the Cheonan, the worst military attack on South Korea since the 1950 to 1953 Korean War. The two Koreas remain in a state of war because the conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
Meanwhile, China held a military drill in the Yellow Sea over the weekend, state media said, shortly before Washington and Seoul are expected to approve joint military exercises for a nearby area.
Four rescue helicopters and four rescue ships were deployed in the two-day drill, organized by the General Logistics Department of the People’s Liberation Army, and the Office of Transport and Combat Readiness, Xinhua news agency said.
Troops from the Jinan Military Region and staff from the Ministry of Transport also took part in the exercises, which started on Saturday in the Yellow Sea.
One part of the drill rehearsed how to defend against sudden long-distance attacks, Xinhua said.
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