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U.S. Military Will Assist South Korea With Naval Defense

1 year ago
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In the aftermath of a North Korean submarine sinking South Korean warship two months ago, American officials say the U.S. military is developing a long-term plan to bolster South Korea's naval defenses, the New York Times reports. They said the attack revealed that even after years of spending and training, the South is still vulnerable to surprise attacks.

The March incident caught both American and South Korean officials off guard. As South Korea has risen to become one of the world's top economies, it has invested billions in national defense strategies and pursued a close relationship with the United States to help deter assaults from the North.

Pledged to assist the South in the event of a conflict, the U.S. would be drawn into hostilities between the two countries should they break out.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that a joint training exercise planned off the coast of South Korea in the next few weeks is part of a "near-term" strategy for holding back Kim Jong-Il's regime, but noted that a long-term plan would involve detecting underwater technology that the North increasingly employs. Mullen said the latter would be "a very difficult technical, tactical problem."

A bulk of the strategy will involve increasing South Korean monitoring of waters previously thought too shallow to harbor a threat, with both sonar and air patrols. The North Korean regime has been focusing on building a small arsenal of weapons, including "midget submarines," that can afflict economic and political instability on the South while remaining difficult to track or challenge.

Mullen said the sinking of the South Korean warship would probably not be the end of such stealth attacks. "North Korea is predictable in one sense: that it is unpredictable in what it is going to do," he said. "North Korea goes through these cycles. I worry a great deal that this isn't the last thing we are going to see."

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theherd1969

Hate to say this people, but North Korea does NOT fear our mighty U.S. military forces. Not after what happened on January 1, 1968, when their [NK] forces fired upon and forcibly seized our Navy's USS Pueblo and its crew as it sailed in international waters off their nation's coastline. FYI: The Commander of that ship, when confronted by N.Korean Naval vessels and aircrafts, HEROICALLY did all he could to avoid the capture of his ship for three (3) long hours, while awaiting for promised, and desperately needed, military assistance. END RESULT: We [USA] did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! N.K. CAPTURED our ship and imprisoned its crew.

June 01 2010 at 12:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Cattani

Everyone is always liable to suffer losses from surprise attacks. That is why Bush made sure that anyone who took actions to pose a threat could be targeted before they acted. Why does this administration not get it?

May 31 2010 at 10:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jeff

If we do get in a war with N. Korea,lets hope we go all out
nukes the whole ball game.No Iraq or Afganistan, no limit on
collateral damage and make it clear to N. Korea that we wont be
losing 57,000 troops like we did in the police action.

May 31 2010 at 8:48 PM Report abuse +3 rate up rate down Reply
Mark

Here we go again, another conflict. If this erupts into an all out conflict the Korean War will be remembered for the harsh conditions and severe combat techniques used by the North Koreans and the Chinese that violated laws against humanity.

May 31 2010 at 7:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
copterdude118

Kim Jung Ill is the leader of a criminal organization. He has mass conterfeited American currency, supported terrorists and other rogue regimes with weapons and training, and has never ceased it's aggression to S. Korea. The civilized world should cut off all economic ties with N. Korea. It should sanction any other country that insists on doing business with N. Korea. Our policy should be one of regime change, not appeasement.

May 31 2010 at 5:39 PM Report abuse +5 rate up rate down Reply
elmoziffle

That is a nice cool spin,the north threatened war about 10 days ago.I hope they do not view the military exercises as an act of aggression.I see Kim as a dictator who is pushed up against an economic wall,and may see war as a way to bring the chinese to his aid.It may also be a way for him to send unwanted refugees to his neighbors ,as times get tougher for him peaceful options evaporate

May 31 2010 at 5:05 PM Report abuse +3 rate up rate down Reply
elmoziffle

One thing S Korea and the US need to do is place enough fire power at the DMZ to knock out the weapons aimed at the south or it will be a blood bath if it starts.

May 31 2010 at 5:04 PM Report abuse +5 rate up rate down Reply
elmoziffle

Why don't we just mind our own damn business and stop provoking the rest of the world. Some day, the countries we are provoking are going to figure out that they should just invade the United States because our Congress wouldn't be capable of dealing with or handling it. After Katrina and now the oil spill I think It's clear to the rest of the world that we can't take care of our own Country. To bad Bin Laden didn't just blow up our entire Congress so that we could get some competent people in office.

May 31 2010 at 4:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
f9rfan

That is a nice cool spin,the north threatened war about 10 days ago.I hope they do not view the military exercises as an act of aggression.I see Kim as a dictator who is pushed up against an economic wall,and may see war as a way to bring the chinese to his aid.It may also be a way for him to send unwanted refugees to his neighbors ,as times get tougher for him peaceful options evaporate

May 31 2010 at 1:59 PM Report abuse +3 rate up rate down Reply

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