By Park Si-soo
South Korea said Sunday it will conduct joint live-fire drills with the United States Monday as scheduled near the disputed western sea border despite a North Korean warning of military retaliation. The joint exercise will continue until Friday.
The decision came hours after North Korea issued a statement Sunday calling on residents of five South Korean islands near the border to “evacuate to safe areas” before the beginning of the drills at 9 a.m.
“We will conduct the exercise as scheduled,” said an official at Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). “There is no unusual move in the North’s military.”
Another official said the South will “resolutely react” to any provocative action by the North.
Earlier, the North’s Western Sector Command said the drills were “reckless military provocation” and it would launch “merciless” strikes if the training is implemented.
The South has regularly conducted artillery drills there with the U.S. and Pyongyang has frequently reacted with a warning of military retaliation, but there have been no deadly incidents since November 2010.
“Once the group of traitors starts a reckless military provocation in those waters, the Korean People’s Army will promptly make merciless retaliatory strikes,” said the North’s Korean Central News Agency. It added the Seoul government “should not forget the lesson” of its bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island, referring to the 2010 incident that killed four South Koreans.
The deadly bombardment immediately plunged the inter-Korean relations to the lowest point in decades, making Seoul cut all humanitarian assistance to the hunger-stricken North. The deteriorated ties have yet to recover.
The upcoming exercise is designed to counter North Korean submarines off the west coast. The JCS said the drills will help “strengthen the allies’ combined readiness posture and their tactical and operational capabilities to respond to North Korean submarines.”
Seoul and Washington had agreed in December last year to stage two joint anti-submarine exercises per year.
According to military officials, the upcoming exercise will involve the 7,600-ton Aegis destroyer “Yulgok Yi I,” which was deployed last year, plus about 20 other vessels, Lynx helicopters and P3-C anti-submarine surveillance aircraft.
In a related development, the government has given the Navy the green light to set up a new command for submarines by 2015. The National Assembly has earmarked a budget of 639 million won ($569,520) for preparations this year.
The Navy had earlier eyed the year 2012 to launch the command, but the plan had been halted under budget constraints. South Korea operates about a dozen submarines, as opposed to about 70 submarines in North Korea.