S. Korea, US conduct live-fire drill

By Jung Sung-ki

Staff reporter

South Korea and the United States continued their massive air and naval training exercises in the East Sea Tuesday, focusing on scenarios involving maritime infiltration by North Korea into the South.

Following two days of simulated trainings to detect and track North Korean submarines in South Korean waters, the naval forces of the two countries held a live-fire naval exercise as a show of strength in response to North Korea’s alleged attack on South Korea’s Cheonan warship in March in the West Sea.

The ship was sunk, killing 46 of the 104 sailors aboard the 1,200-ton frigate. A Seoul-led multinational investigation team determined in May that a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine brought down the vessel. North Korea denies the allegation.

“The exercise was based on scenarios of diverse enemy attacks underwater, on the water and in the air,” an official of the Republic of Korea Navy told reporters.

The live-fire exercise involved a flotilla of warships, including the 14,000-ton Dokdo large-deck landing ship, a 4,500-ton KDX-II destroyer, frigates, support vessels, attack submarines, anti-submarine Lynx helicopters and others, the official said.

The joint exercise, dubbed “Invincible Spirit,” kicked off Sunday for a four-day run with the attendance of 8,000 personnel, 200 aircraft and 20 warships from the South Korean and U.S. militaries.

The USS George Washington aircraft carrier is participating in the exercise, along with stealth F-22 Raptor aircraft. Fighter jets from the 97,000-ton aircraft carrier flew air-to-ground strike training exercises in firing ranges in Gangwon Province and near the Demilitarized Zone.

Defense Minister Kim Tae-young and a group of lawmakers belonging to the National Assembly’s Defense Committee visited the U.S. nuclear-powered carrier to observe the massive drills, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

Attending a ceremony to mark the 57th anniversary of the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement in 1953, Gen. Walter Sharp, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, called on North Korea to stop provocations in violation of the ceasefire treaty.

Sharp concurrently serves as head of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command and the United Nations Command. About 28,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea.

“The findings of a multinational investigation into the sinking of the Cheonan are clear,” Sharp said. “As a commander of the UNC, I call on North Korea to live up to the terms of the armistice and to cease all acts of provocation.”