US, S. Korea in massive landing drill

Straits Times ^

[DeaconBenjamin]

Warships, jets and 3,000 troops take part in amphibious exercise that is seen as a warning to North Korea

POHANG (South Korea) - Thousands of American and South Korean troops backed by warships and planes launched a massive amphibious landing drill yesterday as part of what North Korea denounced as preparations for a pre-emptive strike by the United States.

In a signal to Pyongyang that Washington will not drop its guard despite its preoccupation with the war on Iraq, US and South Korean troops are engaged in major war games this month.

Amphibious tanks roared ashore and sent camouflaged marines fanning across a smoke-filled beach as gunships hovered and fighter jets screamed overhead.

The joint landing drill at Hwajin Beach, 350km south of Seoul, involved about 3,000 troops including 1,000 US marines, according to Captain Son Kang Ho of the South Korean Marine Corps.

Visible out to sea were six navy ships, including the USS Juneau amphibious transport vessel, from whose decks tanks and armoured landing vehicles took to sea.

Further out, invisible from the shore, a US aircraft carrier battle group provided additional cover.

'The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is somewhere off the coast,' Lieutenant-Commander Matt Brotherton from the US navy said.

The aircraft carrier with 70 aircraft, backed by supporting warships, has been in waters around the Korean peninsula since last week to participate in the exercises aimed at deterring any threats from North Korea.

The war games, code- named RSOI/FE (Resourcing, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration/Foal Eagle 03), began on March 4 and are scheduled to last until April 2.

The landing drill coincides with the start of the US-led war on Iraq and rising tensions in the nuclear standoff with North Korea, which fears it could become the next target of the Bush administration, which groups it along with Iraq and Iran in an 'axis of evil'.

North Korea has repeatedly accused the US of using the military exercises to prepare a nuclear attack on the communist state, and has vowed to hit back mercilessly.

The official Korean Central News Agency said yesterday that the ongoing large-scale war games are 'timed to coincide with the US attack on Iraq' and to pave the way for nuclear war.

Washington has 'hurled unusually huge combat forces equipped with sophisticated weapons' into the war games.

The US military denies the charge. It says the annual drills focus on repelling a North Korean invasion of South Korea.

'It is an annual and routine drill. You don't want to see a war here but you are prepared,' said Lt-Commander Brotherton.

Meanwhile, South Korea's military went on heightened alert on Thursday against possible North Korean attempts to use the distraction of war in Iraq to raise tensions on the peninsula.

[oldtimer]

Isn't it true that the slickmeister and his crowd of limp wrists routinely paid off North Korea to keep them out of our face, and that GWB has told them to go pound sand?

[DakotaGator]

I believe this is what used to be named "Exercise Team Spirit".

IIRC it was conducted every two years and was indeed training for repelling a North Korean invasion.

[Jabba the Nutt]

"North Korea has repeatedly accused the US of using the military exercises to prepare a nuclear attack on the communist state, and has vowed to hit back mercilessly."

Ah, amphibious landings aren't really the best way to prepare for a nuclear attack. One Trident sub somewhere out by Hawaii is all we would need.

NKor, go sit in the corner again and stop bothering the rest of the class.

[FredZarguna]

Yes, by what means can we get the South Koreans to demonstrate an exercise of will?

[ChinaThreat]

Unfortunately, a nuclear attack on N. Korea would possibly send radioactive fallout over parts of the west coast. Fortunately, there are other means of dealing with this truly insane dictatorship. i.e. Baghdad, March 19.