South Korean and U.S. forces will kick off their annual joint drills late this month to practice defending the South, with a massive U.S. aircraft carrier taking part, a government source here said Tuesday.
The peninsula-wide joint drills, which will last through mid-March, come amid tensions on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea's two deadly military attacks last year that killed 50 South Koreans.
It will be the first time in two years that a U.S. supercarrier participates in the annual Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercises, the source said on the condition of anonymity. The allies have yet to officially announce the drills.
"This year's Key Resolve exercises will involve a U.S. aircraft carrier to thoroughly check the combined defense capabilities," the source said.
As in previous years, South Korea and the U.S. will practice their ability to cope with all possible contingencies in North Korea, including a crisis in the North as ailing leader Kim Jong-il is apparently turning over power to his youngest son, the source said.
Officials in Seoul have suggested that the two bold attacks last year may be linked to a move by the North's military to try to establish credentials for the North's successor-in-waiting, Kim Jong-un. The senior Kim, who turns 69 on Wednesday, suffered a stroke in 2008 and the son is believed to be in his late 20s.
"During the Key Resolve and Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises, South Korea and the U.S. have tested their ability to prepare for all possible scenarios, including an all-out war and instability in the North," the source said. The Key Resolve and the Ulchi Freedom Guardian are two annual drills carried out by the allies on the Korean Peninsula.
In 2009, the USS John C. Stennis, the seventh Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier in the U.S. Navy, joined the Key Resolve exercises.
More than 20,000 U.S. service members are expected to participate in this year's drills, according to the source.
During the upcoming drills, South Korea and the U.S. also plan to intensify their joint training intended to search and destroy North Korean weapons of mass destruction, military sources here said.
If confirmed, it would be the first time that the allies conduct such training during the Key Resolve exercises.
A South Korean warship sank in March last year in a North Korean torpedo attack, killing 46 sailors. In November, the North shelled a South Korean border island in the Yellow Sea, killing four people, including two civilians.
North Korea denies it sank the Cheonan warship and claims its artillery strike on Yeonpyeong Island was in self-defense because it was provoked by the South's live-fire drill near the island.
North Korea's communist regime has lashed out at South Korea and the U.S. for staging their joint military exercises, denouncing them as a rehearsal for a nuclear war against it.
Key Resolve is command-post drills with computer-based simulation, while Foal Eagle is field exercises. (Yonhap)