NAVAL INTEREST: 12/9/2015

BACK IN 2013 WE WARNED: STAND BY FOR HEAVY ROLLS,  THE U.S. AND SOUTH KOREA TO ENGAGE IN JOINT NAVAL EXERCISE. NORTH KOREA IS AN UNHAPPY CAMPER. NOW IN 2015 NORTH KOREA IS EXERCISING FOR AMPHIBIOUS WARFARE.

South Korean Navy Ships Visiting Pearl Harbor July 4, 2012, Official U.S. Navy Photo by Amanda McErlich/U.S. Navy

SOURCE: VOICE OF AMERICA:http://www.voanews.com/content/south-korea-us-joint-drills-shift-to-sea/1655169.html 

Back in 2013 we carried this notice of joint exercises between America and South Korea. We indicated then that the North Koreans were unhappy campers about these exercises and continued American / South Korean military cooperation and joint training. We haven't published yet but are following the inevitable North Korean escalation. North Korea, sometimes with participation by Chinese forces is practicing amphibious warfare. Why is this one up on the usual South Korea / American naval exercises?  Amphibious warfare is invasive by nature. North Korea would like us to think that invasion may be imminent if we don't bend to their will. Frankly North Korea doesn't have the economic power to sustain such a plan and it is highly likely that China is suicidal enough yet to join in. But as this latest North Korean sword rattling takes place it may be instructive to look back at the U.S. / South Korean exercise that may have triggered today's unrest. Not that we ever would advocate changing our joint defensive plans and exercises based on the sniveling and whining of North Korea.

IN 2013 WE NOTED: 

South Korean and U.S. naval forces are reported to have begun joint drills in waters off the Korean peninsula.

South Korean defense officials are characterizing the latest military exercise as routine and purely defensive in nature.  North Korea does not view it that way.

Referencing the maritime drills in the South, North Korea is calling on Seoul to stop “hostile acts and military provocations” to avoid a permanent closure of the now idled industrial zone at Kaesong, which is the two countries' only joint venture project.

South Korean officials Monday decried Pyongyang linking defense exercises to the fate of the civil factory complex in the North.

According to South Korea's semi-official Yonhap news agency, the drills began with an anti-submarine exercise on Monday in the Yellow Sea, a week after the conclusion of the annual Foal Eagle combined and joint unit tactical field training exercise on the Korean peninsula.

North Korea strongly objected to the previous round of military maneuvers, citing it as a prelude to an invasion. Pyongyang threatened to launch a nuclear attack.

Speaking to reporters in Seoul, Ministry of National Defense spokesman Kim Min-seok was asked about the participation in the exercise of the U.S. Navy's Nimitz super carrier and its strike force.

Kim said the nuclear-powered carrier comes to South Korea annually, noting it last visited in June of 2012, to participate in strategic training.

The spokesman declined to reveal the timing for this latest exercise at sea.

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To read the entire story: http://www.voanews.com/content/south-korea-us-joint-drills-shift-to-sea/1655169.html