S. Korea, US begin maritime exercise
Naval ships from South Korea and the United States began a massive combined maritime exercise around the Korean Peninsula, Monday, amid mounting military tension here.
The exercise involving the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan’s strike group will run through Friday.
U.S. Navy vessels participating in the exercise’s drills also include the USS Stethem and USS Mustin, according to the U.S. Seventh Fleet.
The Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy mobilized its first Aegis destroyer, the Sejong the Great, and other warships such as small submarines.
The Seventh Fleet said the joint exercise is being participated in by ROK Air Force, U.S. 7th Air Force and U.S. Eighth Army alongside the navies of the two countries.
Other assets mobilized include FA-18 Hornet fighters, A-10 ground attack aircraft and AH-64E Apache attack helicopters from the United States, and F-15K fighters, P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft and Lynx and AW-159 Wild Cat naval helicopters from South Korea.
As part of the exercise, the allies are scheduled to conduct a Maritime Counter Special Operations Exercise from Tuesday to Friday in waters off the east or west coasts “to promote communications, interoperability and partnership in the Seventh Fleet area of operations,” the Seventh Fleet said.
“The exercise will provide a visible and coordinated engagement for the U.S.-ROK alliance,” it said.
A U.S. Special Forces unit tasked with carrying out “decapitation” operations is reportedly aboard a nuclear-powered submarine in the strike group.
Jang Wook, a spokesman for the ROK Navy, told reporters that the drills are taking place to better pre- pare for North Korea’s provocations and enhance the allies’ ability to carry out joint operations.
“The exercise will be held south of the Northern Limit Line,” he said.
Military officials here said South Korea and the United States have stepped up their reconnaissance operations in preparation for any provocations by the North during the drills.
The U.S. has deployed the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System to closely monitor the North’s military activities near the border, according to sources.
Pyongyang has denounced military drills by Seoul and Washington as a rehearsal for an invasion and routinely threatens to retaliate.
The combined exercise is taking place amid heightened tension over a possible large-scale provocation such as the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The Kim Jong-un regime celebrated the founding anniversary of its ruling Workers’ Party of Korea last week without carrying out any provocations. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it was continuously monitoring and tracking any developments in the North as the regime there could commit a large-scale provocation at any time.
Sources earlier noted movements of personnel and equipment in the North’s missile facilities have been consistently monitored.
Russian legislators, who visited Pyongyang earlier this month, said Oct. 7 that the Kim regime plans to test a more powerful missile capable of hitting the West Coast of the United States.
Some observers raised the possibility of the North conducting a hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific Ocean. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho told reporters in New York during his visit to attend the United Nations General Assembly last month that this was a possibility.
The North launched two ICBMs in July and conducted its sixth nuclear test Sept. 3 claiming that it had detonated a hydrogen bomb that could be carried by an ICBM.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Monday it is developing a new strategy to end a war with North Korea in the shortest possible time while minimizing casualties if North Korea wages a full-scale attack.
Speaking at the National Assembly audit of the JCS, its officials said the envisioned strategy will be critical amid the rapid advance of the North’s nuclear program and a growing need to better counter Pyongyang’s asymmetric threats using weapons of mass destruction.
“The concept of our strategy is to end a full-scale war within a month while ensuring the fewest casualties as we can,” a JCS officer said.
The strategy will shift from the South Korean military’s defense-oriented tactics, as it is aimed at striking North Korea’s key facilities in advance if necessary.
To achieve the goal, the military is bolstering efforts to detect possible signs of Pyongyang’s provocations, beef up assets on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and improve surgical strike capabilities.
“It will be critical to devastate the enemy’s key targets with precision in all weather-conditions,” the JCS said.
“We’ll concentrate on deterrence first, but if it fails, we’ll turn aggressive so that we can win a war as early as possible. It will help us take the initiative, allowing us to penetrate deep inside the enemy zone and create an environment for unification of the two Koreas.”
Shin In-kyun, president of the Korea Defense Network, speculated that the “decapitation strike,” a joint plan between Seoul and Washington to remove North Korean leadership, is anticipated to serve the purpose of the JCS strategy.
He said Seoul’s three-pronged defense system against Pyongyang’s possible nuclear attack will help shape the strategy as well.
The three elements are a Kill Chain preemptive strike system, the Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) and the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR) plan.
The Kill Chain is aimed at carrying out a preemptive strike against Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile facilities if Seoul is faced with an imminent threat.
KAMD is designed to trace and shoot down incoming North Korean ballistic missiles while KMPR is to punish and retaliate against North Korea if it attacks the South.
Meanwhile, the JCS said it will continue to develop the three-pronged defense system jointly with the Seoul-Washington deterrence plan.
It said it will begin consultation with relevant government organizations including ministries to regularly run evacuation drills for civilians.
It also said the 42nd Military Committee Meeting slated for Oct. 27 in Seoul, will help the allies assess the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, develop a joint counter-strategy against North Korea’s nuclear program and discuss issues on the transfer of wartime operational control of South Korean forces from the U.S.