Seoul, Washington to hold anti-sub drills

[ErnstBlofeld]

The Korea Times/ Na Jeong-ju:

South Korea and the United States will hold anti-submarine drills next week off the country’s west coast, defense officials said Friday.

The five-day exercises that will start Monday are the second joint military response by Seoul
and Washington to the March sinking of the 1,200-ton warship Cheonan, holding Pyongyang to
blame.

The allies staged major joint military drills in the East Sea in late July.

Next week’s exercises had been originally scheduled for earlier this month but were delayed due to adverse weather conditions
from a typhoon that swept through the region at the time.

“These exercises are aimed at intensively training the ability to detect and destroy enemy submarines,”the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement.

About 10 ships, including two U.S. guided-missile destroyers and two submarines, and some
1,700 troops from the allies will be mobilized for the maneuvers off the West Sea, JCS
officials said.

The exercises are intended as a display of force to deter future provocation by North Korea.

China, the North’s only remaining major ally, has also voiced strong objection to any
large-scale South Korean-U.S. joint military exercises off the peninsula.