Free Republic

The Air Force stands ready to respond if hostilities between North Korea and South Korea escalate, the service's top uniformed officer said, but American fighter jets remained at their normal alert status a day after a North Korean artillery attack. The North fired artillery shells at the island of Yeonpyeong on Tuesday, killing two people and dramatically raising tensions between American-allied South Korea and the nuclear-armed north. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, in a meeting with reporters later that morning, said his service has plenty of firepower in the region and listed the bases from which the...

Meanwhile the South Korean military plans to beef up security in the waters near its maritime border with North Korea. Reports indicate the South Korean Navy will conduct more anti-submarine drills in the West Sea where a warship sank in March. claiming the lives of 46 sailors. Seoul's National Defense Ministry also plans to request government funds to improve underwater surveillance by modernizing sonar devices and naval radar systems. And more joint anti-submarine warfare exercises between South Korean and US forces could take place in the East and West Seas. In a report to President Lee Myung-bak South Korean defense...