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USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19), U.S. 7th Fleet flagship, arrived in Chinhae Mar.12 to continue participating in combined forces Exercise Key Resolve/Foal Eagle 2010. Blue Ridge departed Busan, Republic of Korea, carrying 7th Fleet staff Sailors, Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team, 1st Company Marines, Republic of Korea (ROK) service members, and many other participants in the exercise. The move to Chinhae adds realism to the exercise and allows the participants to work together from a different operational vantage point. "In addition to allowing our Sailors to see more of Korea," said Blue Ridge Commanding Officer Capt. Rudy Lupton. "Being in Chinhae...

US experts in weapons of mass destruction are taking part in a military exercise simulating an attack by North Korea on South Korea, the US commander in the South said Thursday. The communist North has bitterly denounced the US-South Korean exercise as a preparation for a nuclear attack, and vowed to respond to any aggression with its atomic weapons. The visiting experts are from a team called Task Force Elimination, of the Maryland-based 20th Support Command. US commander General Walter Sharp said they brought unique WMD expertise to the Key Resolve/Foal Eagle drill, in which 18,000 American troops and 20,000...

American and South Korean military members kicked off Exercise Key Resolve/FOAL Eagle 10 March 8 and will train for 10 days here. The annual joint/combined command post and field training exercise is defense-oriented and designed to ensure the South Korean and U.S. alliance is prepared to defend against outside aggression. "Key Resolve is our combined Joint Chief of Staff exercise where we train and prepare for conflict," said Col. Danny Wolf, the 7th AF director of operations and plans. "It's a command and control exercise where we have Combined Forces Command working in concert with the ROK, JCS and all...

The United States and South Korea began their annual joint military exercise on Monday, dismissing a verbal warning by North Korea, which views the drill as a preparation for war. The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercise is to continue across South Korea through March 18, drawing about 18,000 U.S. troops from bases here and abroad and mobilizing more than 20,000 South Korean troops. The U.S. says the drill is a routine exercise to improve its ability to defend South Korea, but North Korea insists it is a precursor to invasion. On Sunday, North Korea said in a statement it...

The United States and South Korea will go ahead next month with a major annual military exercise set to anger North Korea but fewer US troops than last year will take part, officials said Thursday. North Korea denounces the exercise and other annual military drills in the South as a rehearsal for invasion, a claim denied by Seoul and Washington. The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercise, slated for March 8-18, will draw 18,000 US troops including 10,000 stationed in South Korea and 8,000 from abroad, said Combined Forces Command spokesman Kim Yong-Kyu. Some 26,000 US troops took part in...

Lone U.S. Carrier Group Watches N. Korea By ERIC TALMADGE .c The Associated Press ABOARD THE USS CARL VINSON (AP) - Corp. Douglas Mesnan and dozens of others sat riveted as the mess hall television carried reports that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein might have been killed. ``If it's true, I'm happy,'' Mesnan, of Highland, Ind., said Tuesday. ``But being a Marine, I feel like I should be over there with the other Marines.'' Mesnan is stationed on an aircraft carrier thousands of miles from home, but television reports are the only way he's keeping up with the war in Iraq....

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...

TOKSOK-RI, South Korea (AP) - Hundreds of U.S. Marines stormed a South Korean beach Friday, carrying out war games that North Korea charges are a prelude to an invasion. The maneuvers, supported by fighter jets from warships just off shore, came even as other Marines, U.S. troops and allies crossed into Iraq in a march to disarm Saddam Hussein. Both South Korean and U.S. Marines came ashore on amphibious assault vehicles amid mock explosions. Waves of helicopters and fighter jets droned overhead during the exercises, part of ongoing annual maneuvers. After jumping out of the landing craft, the troops scrambled...

North Korea reacted angrily to a US decision to deploy an aircraft carrier in waters around the Korean peninsula as part of the ongoing joint military drills with South Korea. Through the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea said the presence of the carrier would make the nuclear crisis even more volatile in the region. The communist country has condemned the annual US-South Korean war games, codenamed Foal Eagle, which began last week, as a rehearsal for an American strike at its nuclear facilities. "The 'Foal Eagle' joint military exercise is at its height with the carrier,...

At Least 6 Stealth Fighters Being Sent to South Korea for Exercises The Associated Press HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AP) - At least six F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters will head to South Korea to take part in routine joint military exercises, military officials said. "Over six F-117s are scheduled to participate in exercises from Kun San Air Base in South Korea," Maj. Tina Barber-Matthew said at Holloman Monday. Holloman officials described the exercises as routine. The base said more than 100 support personnel will participate. The exercises are dubbed Eagle, Foal Eagle and RSOI, for Reception, Staging, Onward Movement...