N. Korean submarine exercises in Yellow Sea becoming more frequent: lawmaker

Yonhap News ^ | 09/19/11

[TigerLikesRooster]

2011/09/19 08:47 KST

N. Korean submarine exercises in Yellow Sea becoming more frequent: lawmaker

SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has stepped up its submarine drills this year, but the South Korean Navy hasn't been able to detect the vessels, an opposition lawmaker claimed Monday.

Shin Hak-yong, a member of the main opposition Democratic Party who serves on the parliamentary committee on national defense, said there were 50 North Korean submarine drills in the Yellow Sea through the end of August this year, up from 28 drills over the first eight months of 2010.

Shin said there were only five such drills in the January-August period in 2009, and only two over the same period a year earlier.

Shin said North Korea's semi-submarine exercises jumped from 14 in the first eight months of 2010 to 22 this year.

Last March, North Korea torpedoed the South Korean warship Cheonan, killing 46 sailors aboard. Eight months later, it bombed the border island of Yeonpyeong and killed four, including two civilians. The Yellow Sea has also been a site of three naval skirmishes between the Koreas since 1999.

In the East Sea, the number of North Korean submarine drills went up from 25 to 39 over the past year, Shin said. The lawmaker noted that most of the East Sea exercises took place between June and August.

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

[AndrewB]

[paint_your_wagon]

When I saw the words ‘submarine’ and ‘yellow’ in the title, that’s the first thing that came to my mind too.

[SunkenCiv]

The Yellow Sea may as well have been named after Obama. Thanks TigerLikesRooster.

[eccentric]

same here

[rdl6989]

BTTT

[BBell]

Whenever I read an article like this I always have to wonder how much of it is disinformation. I mean would it not be in the ROK's best interest to have the DPRK think that the ROK Navy could not track the DPRK's subs?

I for one do not believe that a few years back when that ChiCom sub surfaced amongst an American Carrier group that we where caught off guard. I believe we were tracking it all along.

"Never interrupt your enemy, when he is making a mistake."

[stevie_d_64]

Well, the South might not ba able to track, effectively enough...

But that doesn’t mean someone else can’t...

Shhhhhh, it’s ok...I think “someone” has it covered...

And you would be surprised who “it” might be...