ROK, US to hold joint naval drills in West Sea Sept. 5-9

By Jung Sung-ki

South Korea and the United States will conduct joint anti-submarine exercise next week in the West Sea where the South Korean Navy’s ship the Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo attack in March.

The joint drills will start Sunday and continue through Thursday, military officials said. The joint naval maneuvers follows massive joint air and naval readiness exercises in the East Sea in late July and South Korea’s independent anti-submarine drill in the West Sea in early August.

The forthcoming exercise will not include a U.S. aircraft carrier, the officials said. The U.S. Navy will send two Aegis warships to train with South Korean submarines and destroyers.

“The exercises will focus on anti-submarine warfare tactics, including detecting and destroying North Korean submarines,” an official said.

North Korea has denied any involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan frigate, denouncing the naval drills conducted by South Korea and the United States.

China, North Korea’s long-time ally and military rival of the United States, has also been complaining of such maneuvers off its eastern waters.

The Chinese navy announced it will hold a live-ammunition exercise on the seas west of the Korean Peninsula. It said a naval fleet will stage the drill this week from Wednesday to Saturday.

Observers say the announcement follows a pattern of China publicizing its own military exercises echoing those held by Washington and Seoul, which Beijing has negatively criticized as raising tensions on the peninsula.

China said its naval exercise will be held off the coastal city of Qingdao, meaning they will be well away from the U.S.-South Korea exercises held in waters closer to the Korean coast.

A South Korea-led multinational probe concluded in May that a torpedo fired by a midget North Korean submarine sank the Cheonan warship near the West Sea border, killing 46 sailors.