Military Exercises

The Pentagon said Monday that it plans to participate in new military exercises with South Korea, the first direct military response from the United States to the sinking of a South Korean warship by what officials called a North Korean torpedo. Bryan Whitman, the Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. forces will participate in an anti-submarine maneuver in "the near future." In a second planned exercise, U.S. units along with South Korea and possibly other regional allies will work to improve their ability to interdict cargo ships carrying arms or other prohibited materials to or from North Korea.

South Korea's military Friday wrapped up three days of intense land and sea exercises as officials tried to decipher what a third nuclear test by North Korea predicted for next year would mean to already brittle relations between the two nations. Tension on the peninsula recently has been at one of their highest levels since a truce ended the direct combat of the Korean War in 1953. Northern artillery shelled the South's Yeonpyeong Island on Nov. 23, killing four people, and South Korea followed with two live-fire training exercises despite threats from Pyongyang that it could retaliate if it felt threatened.

The Pentagon said Monday it would participate in two new military exercises with South Korea, the first direct military response from the U.S. as a result of the sinking of a South Korean warship. Bryan G. Whitman, the Pentagon spokesman, said Monday the U.S. military would participate in an anti-submarine maneuver in "the near future." The U.S. will also participate in another exercise with South Korea and potentially other regional allies aimed at improving abilities to interdict North Korean cargo ships.

South Korean officials Tuesday braced for a possible surprise attack from North Korea and expressed new resolve to counter any aggression despite signals from North Korea that it would not retaliate for the South's live-fire military drills in disputed Yellow Sea waters. Two days after conducting an exercise similar to a November drill that triggered a deadly North Korean artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea kept fighter jets and a destroyer in the area to monitor the North's military activities.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived in Seoul on Monday for a high-level show of unity expected to include the announcement of major military exercises by the U.S. and South Korea four months after the sinking of a South Korean warship. Gates will be joined in Seoul by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in talks with South Korean counterparts, meetings that U.S. officials said were aimed at sending a signal to North Korea in response to the sinking of the Cheonan, allegedly by Northern forces.

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian said he had canceled a major live-fire military exercise shortly after China reportedly called off its own massive war games near Taiwan. The military drills have increased tensions between the two sides, which split during a civil war 55 years ago. Beijing views Taiwan as a renegade province.

South Korea's military Friday wrapped up three days of intense land and sea exercises as officials tried to decipher what a third nuclear test by North Korea predicted for next year would mean to already brittle relations between the two nations. Tension on the peninsula recently has been at one of their highest levels since a truce ended the direct combat of the Korean War in 1953. Northern artillery shelled the South's Yeonpyeong Island on Nov. 23, killing four people, and South Korea followed with two live-fire training exercises despite threats from Pyongyang that it could retaliate if it felt threatened.

THE PHILIPPINES * The Philippines and the United States have agreed to hold a second round of military exercises after current maneuvers end this month, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said. Arroyo gave no details about the new exercises but indicated that they would be held on Mindanao island, where Muslim separatist rebels and communist guerrillas operate. A thousand U.S. troops are now participating in training exercises scheduled to end July 31.

Land now being used for a military exercise soon will be a place for some plain old exercise. A mock operation in suburban Fairview Township is giving soldiers armed with M-16 rifles and bulldozers some practice grading a landing strip under combat conditions and helping the community build a new soccer field. Col. Clyde Hornberger, commander of the 315th Engineer Group at the New Cumberland Army Depot, said the Army exercise will continue for two weeks.

The original scenario was just a little too close to reality for comfort. During this week's Sea Breeze '97 maneuvers, U.S. Marines were to deploy onto the plains surrounding this Ukrainian naval port to intervene in a mythical ethnic conflict in which rebels aided by a neighboring power sought to overthrow the government of "the orange country."

Despite days of provocative language, North Korea on Monday said it would not retaliate against South Korea's live-fire military exercises, saying the drills were "not worth reacting" to. With fighter jets and attack ships nearby, South Korea launched hundreds of artillery shells in a 90-minute display of power on Yeonpyeong Island, the scene of a similar exercise last month that prompted Pyongyang to respond with a shelling attack that killed four...

American and Chinese defense chiefs met Monday in Hanoi, the first time in a year, as they sought to overcome a period of unusual strain between the two militaries. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates conferred privately with Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie for half an hour on the eve of a regional defense conference in the Vietnamese capital. Gates said afterward that he told Liang that "when there are disagreements, it's all the more important to talk with each other, not less," according to the Pentagon's website . Gates also said he had accepted a formal invitation from Liang to visit Beijing for more talks with senior Chinese military officials.

China views the military exercises in the Sea of Japan as a threat to its territorial integrity. Beijing's indignation appears calibrated to push back at U.S. dominance in the region. As far as Beijing is concerned, the U.S.-South Korean joint air and sea military exercises that took place this week in the Sea of Japan were a direct threat to China's territorial integrity. For days now, China's state-controlled media have been beating the drums of war with editorials, each more confrontational than the last.

Joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises announced Tuesday are intended to impress on North Korea the need to change its behavior, but not allow the sinking of a South Korean warship four months ago to stymie nuclear talks, analysts said. The naval and air exercises will begin Sunday in the Sea of Japan and include the aircraft carrier George Washington. They were announced by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young after a meeting in Seoul.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived in Seoul on Monday for a high-level show of unity expected to include the announcement of major military exercises by the U.S. and South Korea four months after the sinking of a South Korean warship. Gates will be joined in Seoul by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in talks with South Korean counterparts, meetings that U.S. officials said were aimed at sending a signal to North Korea in response to the sinking of the Cheonan, allegedly by Northern forces.

Turkey, a longtime ally of Israel, recalls its ambassador and calls off joint military exercises as Turks take to the streets in protest. Ties had been deteriorating since the Gaza assault in 2008-09. Israel's raid on an aid flotilla that sailed out of Turkey may have eviscerated, at least for the foreseeable future, any lingering remnants of goodwill among the political elite of Turkey — a country long prized by the Jewish state as its most stalwart Muslim ally. Turkey yanked its ambassador from Israel in protest Monday and backed out of joint military exercises.

Soldiers from the United States and 12 European countries on both sides of the former East-West divide met on a remote training field here Monday, opening what military leaders called a historic era in post-Cold War cooperation.

The Pentagon said Monday that it plans to participate in new military exercises with South Korea, the first direct military response from the United States to the sinking of a South Korean warship by what officials called a North Korean torpedo. Bryan Whitman, the Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. forces will participate in an anti-submarine maneuver in "the near future." In a second planned exercise, U.S. units along with South Korea and possibly other regional allies will work to improve their ability to interdict cargo ships carrying arms or other prohibited materials to or from North Korea.

The Pentagon said Monday it would participate in two new military exercises with South Korea, the first direct military response from the U.S. as a result of the sinking of a South Korean warship. Bryan G. Whitman, the Pentagon spokesman, said Monday the U.S. military would participate in an anti-submarine maneuver in "the near future." The U.S. will also participate in another exercise with South Korea and potentially other regional allies aimed at improving abilities to interdict North Korean cargo ships.