Seoul-Washington begin joint naval drill

NK threatens military action against drill

By Yi Whan-woo

South Korea and the United States began joint naval maneuver drills as part of their annual spring Foal Eagle military exercise, the Navy said Friday.

It added the two allies will carry out the drill in South Korean territorial waters on the West, East and South seas until mid-March.

“We expect to boost joint operational capabilities between Seoul and Washington and solidify a strong joint defense posture,” the Navy said in a statement.

South Korea’s three naval fleets will mobilize their ships, including 4,400-ton KDX-II type destroyer, the Ganggamchan, as well as Lynx helicopters, P-3C patrol planes and Coast Guard boats.

From the U.S. side, the USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112) destroyer and MH-60 Seahawk helicopters will take part.

According to Seoul Navy officials, this year’s drill comes early compared to previous years because of the operational schedule of U.S. Navy ships.

Foal Eagle is a field training exercise slated to run through April 24.

It will involve a set of land, sea and air maneuvers mobilizing about 200,000 Korean and 3,700 American troops.

Foal Eagle is one of two overlapping joint military exercises that routinely anger North Korean officials. Key Resolve is the other drill, a computerized command post exercise aimed at checking and boosting crisis management abilities as well as the joint readiness posture among the South Korea and U.S. military. It is slated to run from March 2 to 13.

Pyongyang has denounced such joint military exercises as “rehearsals for an invasion of North Korea.”

The North has mobilized its state-controlled media and threatened to take military measures in response to the Seoul-Washington exercises.

Pyongyang’s Rodong Sinmun said on Feb. 24 that, “The whole course of Key Resolve and Foal Eagle is aimed to invade North Korea through preemptive strikes.”

“The chances for dialogue and other diplomatic means to settle disputes are now gone. And military measures are the only options we’re left with,” it added.

Rodong Sinmun, a newspaper published by the Workers’ Party of North Korea, also held South Korea responsible for the dormant inter-Korean communication.

“South Korea should withdraw its hostile policies against us and take concrete measures to resume the talks,” it said.

In January, both President Park Geun-hye and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said they were open for an inter-Korean summit, fueling optimism for a thawing of the frayed inter-Korean relations.

The two Koreas, however, have made little progress resuming bilateral dialogue since.