Anti-Sub Exercises Send Deterrence Message to North Korea

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2010 — The U.S. and Repub­lic of Korea navies kicked off anti-sub­ma­rine war­fare exer­cis­es yes­ter­day in the waters off the Kore­an penin­su­la, send­ing what offi­cials call an impor­tant mes­sage of deter­rence to North Korea as the Repub­lic of Korea com­mem­o­rates the 60th anniver­sary of Seoul’s lib­er­a­tion.

The five-day exer­cis­es are the sec­ond in a series and are focused on anti-sub­ma­rine tac­tics, tech­niques and pro­ce­dures, U.S. Forces Korea offi­cials reported. 

USS John S. McCain and USS Fitzger­ald, both guid­ed-mis­sile destroy­ers for­ward-deployed to Yoko­su­ka Naval Base, Japan; Mil­i­tary Sealift Command’s ocean sur­veil­lance ship USNS Vic­to­ri­ous, a fast-attack sub­ma­rine, and P‑3C Ori­on air­craft from Patrol Squadron 9, home-port­ed at Kaneo­he Marine Corps Base, Hawaii, are par­tic­i­pat­ing in the exer­cise, offi­cials said. 

South Korea has deployed two destroy­ers, a fast frigate, a patrol craft, P‑3C air­craft from Car­ri­er Air Wing 6 and a submarine. 

The first exer­cise in this series, Com­bined Naval and Air Readi­ness Exer­cise Invin­ci­ble Spir­it, was con­duct­ed in the seas east of the Kore­an penin­su­la in July. 

Offi­cials empha­sized that the exer­cis­es are defen­sive in nature and designed to improve inter­op­er­abil­i­ty with­in the U.S.-ROK alliance. 

Mean­while, thou­sands of ROK, U.S. and U.N. allied rep­re­sen­ta­tives gath­ered in Seoul to com­mem­o­rate the 60th anniver­sary of the recap­ture of the South Kore­an cap­i­tal from North Korea dur­ing the Kore­an War. 

The North Kore­an army seized Seoul three days after stam­ped­ing across the bor­der on June 25, 1950 and launch­ing the Kore­an War. U.N. forces lib­er­at­ed Seoul on Sept. 28, 1950, less than two weeks after a mas­sive amphibi­ous land­ing in Inchon enabled them to break the North Kore­an army’s sup­ply lines. 

Vet­er­ans Affairs Sec­re­tary Eric Shin­se­ki is lead­ing the U.S. del­e­ga­tion dur­ing two days of com­mem­o­ra­tive events that began yes­ter­day in Seoul. U.S. Ambas­sador to South Korea Kath­leen Stephens, Sec­re­tary of the Army John McHugh and Andrew Shapiro, assis­tant sec­re­tary of State for polit­i­cal-mil­i­tary affairs, are accom­pa­ny­ing Shinseki. 

Dur­ing today’s cer­e­monies, South Kore­an Pres­i­dent Lee Myung-bak thanked the U.N. and U.S. forces who came to his country’s aid dur­ing the war. “We will remem­ber your sac­ri­fice and ded­i­ca­tion for­ev­er,” he said. 

Speak­ing as North Korea’s rul­ing par­ty con­vened its biggest meet­ing in 30 years, and as North Kore­an leader Kim Jong-il pro­mot­ed his son and expect­ed suc­ces­sor, Kim Jong-un, Lee also offered a stern reminder that the North Kore­an threat continues. 

Lee point­ed to the sink­ing of the ROK navy frigate Cheo­nan in March, killing 46 of its 104 sailors. 

Despite North Korea’s denials, an inves­ti­ga­tion led by South Korea with input from the Unit­ed States, Aus­tralia, Great Britain and Swe­den con­firmed that North Kore­an was respon­si­ble for the attack. “The evi­dence points over­whelm­ing­ly to the con­clu­sion that the tor­pe­do was fired by a North Kore­an sub­ma­rine,” the team con­clud­ed. “There is no oth­er plau­si­ble explanation.” 

Lee also called dur­ing yesterday’s cer­e­monies for a “dras­tic trans­for­ma­tion” with­in ROK mil­i­tary forces to improve their defen­sive capabilities. 

ROK already is on a path to assum­ing wartime oper­a­tional com­mand of its forces in 2015, a tar­get that Lee had asked to delay from 2012 to 2015 in light of North Korea’s lat­est provocations. 

Details of the trans­fer plan are spelled out in the new Strate­gic Alliance 2015 agree­ment, which Army Gen. Wal­ter L. “Skip” Sharp, com­man­der of U.S. Forces Korea, Com­bined Forces Com­mand and Unit­ed Nations Com­mand, announced ear­li­er this month. 

The plan cov­ers not only trans­fer­ring wartime oper­a­tional com­mand to South Korea, but also devel­op­ing new war plans, intro­duc­ing broad­er and more real­is­tic exer­cis­es, review­ing both coun­tries’ mil­i­tary orga­ni­za­tion­al struc­tures and tim­ing the move­ment of U.S. forces south of Seoul and ensur­ing South Kore­an forces are ready, Sharp explained. 

Sharp said the plan also will help to iden­ti­fy mil­i­tary capa­bil­i­ties South Kore­an forces will need in 2015, and ensure that South Kore­an mil­i­tary acqui­si­tions, train­ing and orga­ni­za­tion­al efforts are geared toward achiev­ing them. 

“Strate­gic Alliance 2015 will enable the Repub­lic of Korea and U.S. forces to suc­cess­ful­ly con­front future secu­ri­ty chal­lenges and set the con­di­tions for last­ing peace in the Kore­an penin­su­la and the region,” Sharp told the Sen­ate Armed Ser­vices Com­mit­tee ear­li­er this month. “The Repub­lic of Korea and the Unit­ed States are more strong­ly unit­ed than ever before to deter North Kore­an provo­ca­tions and aggres­sion, and to defeat them if nec­es­sary,” the gen­er­al said. 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs) 

Face­book and/or on Twit­ter

Team GlobDef

Seit 2001 ist GlobalDefence.net im Internet unterwegs, um mit eigenen Analysen, interessanten Kooperationen und umfassenden Informationen für einen spannenden Überblick der Weltlage zu sorgen. GlobalDefence.net war dabei die erste deutschsprachige Internetseite, die mit dem Schwerpunkt Sicherheitspolitik außerhalb von Hochschulen oder Instituten aufgetreten ist.

Alle Beiträge ansehen von Team GlobDef →