By Na Jeong-ju
South Korea and the United States began their largest-ever joint naval exercises in the West Sea, Sunday, in a show of deterrence against North Korean aggression as the communist country warned of “unpredictable consequences.”
The drills had begun at around 6:00 a.m. and hours later the South Korean military asked residents on the border island targeted by last week’s shelling to move to shelters after hearing several rounds of artillery firing. None of the rounds landed on the island.
Later in the day, journalists on the island were also ordered to leave immediately due to concerns about additional attacks by the North, the Ministry of National Defense said.
The joint drills, which will continue through Wednesday, drew dozens of ships and aircraft, including the nuclear-powered 97,000-ton aircraft carrier USS George Washington, which has more than 7,000 sailors and 80 fighter jets aboard.
The U.S. also deployed the state-of-the-art E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, called JSTARS, to closely monitor North Korea’s military activities near the border.
Other U.S. warships that took part in the drills included the 9,600-ton USS Cowpens, 9,750-ton USS Shiloh and the USS Stethem.
South Korea deployed a 7,600-ton Aegis destroyer, two 4,500-ton destroyers, several frigates and anti-submarine planes and helicopters, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
“The joint drills, which will be conducted around the clock until Wednesday, started in waters off the west coast town of Taean, South Chungcheong Province, located far south of the tense inter-Korean border,” a JCS official said on condition of anonymity.
The exercise followed a North Korean artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island near the western sea border that killed four people _ two marines and two civilians _ and injured 20 other people. A barrage of artillery shells destroyed a military base and civilian homes on the island, which lies only some 20 kilometers from North Korea.
The two allies initially planned the joint war games following the North’s torpedo attack on the South Korean Navy warship Cheonan last March, which killed 46 sailors, but delayed it due to protests from China.
Military officials here said the ongoing exercises are far more intensive than initially planned, adding participating forces will conduct live-fire shooting and bombing drills.
They, however, insisted that the drills are aimed at defending South Korea from North Korean attacks and the show of force aims to serve as deterrence against the belligerent country.
On Sunday, North Korea issued a fresh threat to launch attacks against South Korea if provoked.
“We will launch merciless counter-military strikes against any provocative moves that infringe upon our country’s territorial waters,” the North’s state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
JCS officials said they are keeping a close watch on the movements of the North’s coastline artillery batteries.
“We issued the evacuation order for residents of the island right after hearing sounds of artillery firing,” said a JCS spokesman.
Last week, President Lee Myung-bak announced plans to boost troops and weapons on the five islands near the western border and relax rules of engagement to allow the military to more actively respond to any provocative acts by North Korea.
Lee replaced the country’s defense chief with Kim Kwan-jin, a former JCS chairman, amid growing criticism that the military’s initial response to the North’s artillery attack was poor.