From FOX News:
H/T: Terry
December 3, 2010 - 8:13 AM
by: Greg Palkot
SEOUL-- Here it goes again... The US military that is. Two days after the end of joint US-South Korea naval exercises, and a little over a week since the deadly artillery shelling of a South Korean Island by North Korea, US forces are involved in military maneuvers in the region. This time, with next-door Japan.
Dubbed "Keen Sword'," they're set to continue for a week and are described as one of the biggest ever of their kind, involving sixty ships, four hundred planes, and tens of thousands of troops.
According to reports, at least some of the naval drills will be taking place due south of the Korean peninsula in the East China Sea. The USS George Washington and its support group which took part in the South Korea exercise are also involved in this.
For the first time, a US military official confirms to Fox News, the South Korean military is involved in such an operation, acting as observers on one of the ships.
North Korea hasn't said anything yet about the drills but China is talking, condemning them as a "brandishing of force" while it claims to be trying to resolve conflict between North and South Korea.
The US military reminds us that these latest exercises were planned well before the latest outbreak of hostilities.
Meanwhile, there's no let up in the war of words between the Korea's. South Korean Defense Minister Designate Kim Kwan-Jin saying today South Korean fighter jets would bomb the North next time the country acted offensively.
In the wake of what many here see is a weak response by Seoul to the attack, Daniel Pinkston of International Crisis Group Korea tells Fox "National Security has become a 'blind spot' for South Korea, deterrence must be restored."
Undetterred, the North reportedly is making new plans for a future strike against mainland South Korea, specifically the region which includes the capitol Seoul, as it also reportedly is adding to its weaponry capable of hitting Seoul.
"North Korea has gotten itself into a 'commitment trap'," added Pinkston, "they've taken a hard line military view and now they have to follow through.".
North Korea's suspect nuclear program also remains a big worry for the US and the West, The US informed the UN nuclear watchdog agency the IAEA that it believes North Korea has a larger than earlier believed uranium enrichment program. This would go beyond the discovery a US nuclear expert made in a visit to one facility in North Korea last month.
Finally, on the road in Bishkek, Kyrgystan, Secretary of State Clinton today branded the situation here an "immediate threat" to North and South Korea, a "medium term threat" to China, and a "long term threat to the entire world."
Talks are set for Monday in Washington between Clinton and Foreign Ministers from South Korea and Japan regarding the tensions
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