U.S.-Korean Defense Leaders Announce Exercise Invincible Spirit

American Forces Press Service ^ | 7/20/2010 | By Jim Garamone

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

– The United States and South Korea today announced a series of military exercises designed to send a strong, clear message to North Korea to stop its provocative and warlike acts. Video

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Republic of Korea National Defense Minister Kim Tae-young released a joint statement on the exercises following meetings here.

The first in a series is a combined maritime and air readiness exercise named Invincible Spirit. About 8,000 U.S. and ROK military personnel will participate. The exercise is in response to the unprovoked attack on and sinking of the South Korean frigate Cheonan off the west coast of the peninsula. Forty-six South Korean sailors were killed in the North Korean torpedo attack on the vessel.

“This is the first in a series of ROK-U.S. combined naval exercises that will occur in both the East and West Seas,” the two defense ministers said in their joint statement. To Americans, the East Sea is the Yellow Sea and the West Sea is the Sea of Japan.

“These defensive, combined exercises are designed to send a clear message to North Korea that its aggressive behavior must stop, and that we are committed to together enhancing our combined defensive capabilities,” the statement continued.

Navy Adm. Robert F. Willard, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command, put the exercises in context for reporters traveling with Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Willard said the exercise will begin at the conclusion of the Two-plus-Two meetings between the U.S. and Korean ministers of defense and foreign affairs.

Willard called the attack on the Cheonan “heinous.”

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Exercise Invincible Spirit, a joint U.S.-South Korean war game, will involve the F-22 stealth fighter for the first time.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

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