DoD News Briefing
Wednesday, June 16, 1999 - 2:10 p.m.
Presenter: Captain Mike Doubleday, DASD PA
..............
Q: Korea?
Captain Doubleday: Yeah.
Q: Can you bring us up-to-date on any movement of U.S. assets to Korea to monitor the situation?
Captain Doubleday: I think I do have a little bit of that.
First of all, I should point out that today there has been no contact between North Korean and South Korean naval vessels -- that is to say, today, Wednesday, the 16th of June. I realize that shortly the new day will be dawning there, but the reports that we have are that the North Korean patrol boats remain north of the Northern Limit Line, although there were some North Korean fishing vessels that ventured into the, below the line. They didn't stay very long and moved back out by the middle of the morning.
The commander-in-chief of U.S. Pacific Command has ordered some naval units and some air assets into the region to kind of monitor the situation. Right now the ships, one of them will be the USS VINCENNES, and another ship that has not yet been designated, they'll move into waters off Korea just to be in a position to monitor what's going on.
Then the CINC has also decided to reposition some air assets, which will be primarily EA-6Bs and perhaps some other surveillance aircraft that can monitor the situation.
Q: What about the CONSTELLATION? Is it leaving early?
Captain Doubleday: It's going to depart from San Diego, it's homeport, on the 18th of June. My understanding is this was a previously planned deployment.
Q: But it's going directly to Korea?
Captain Doubleday: It will be conducting training near Korea during the transit to the deployment that it had already planned.
Q: Are there any other forces in the U.S. which are specifically remaining on alert potentially to additionally be sent to Korea in the future?
Captain Doubleday: There are two F/A-18 Hornet squadrons, 10 B-52 bombers, one Patriot and a battalion headquarters, eight F-16CJ Fighting Falcon aircraft, and some additional EA-6Bs.
Q: Are those...
Captain Doubleday: They're just on alert to deploy if necessary.
Q: Are they in Japan now? Where are they?
Captain Doubleday: They are on alert at various places around the United States.
Q: What would it take to have...
Q: Can I just follow up on this?
Captain Doubleday: Sure.
Q: Were those on alert previously because so many assets had been diverted to Kosovo? Or have they been put on alert in the last period of time because of the situation specifically in Korea?
Captain Doubleday: No, they were previously put on alert, and they were put on alert because as you probably know, we have an aircraft carrier that is normally forward-deployed and operates out of Yokuska, Japan. That's KITTY HAWK. But KITTY HAWK was moved out of the region because of requirements elsewhere. And so these units were put on alert in the event they were required. So this occurred some months ago. They are still on alert. If they are required, they would be called into the theater.
Q: But now they're specifically staying on alert for potential use...
Captain Doubleday: No, I don't think there's any change in their status. All I've provided here is a list of others who would be called into action, should there be a requirement. But I hasten to add, the situation today is markedly different from what it was yesterday.
Q: How long will it take these assets to get there? Is it a week to nine days for the...
Captain Doubleday: The CONSTELLATION hasn't departed its homeport yet, and that transit is across the Pacific. I can't give you the transit time, but the Navy could. It's probably ten days or so before it would be in a position.
The other units are right there in theater. They can move in no time at all.
Q: The VINCENNES, for example, could be there quickly?
Captain Doubleday: They can be there very quickly.
Q: When you say they're going to be in position just, I think you said just outside the...
Captain Doubleday: They'll be in the waters off the coast of Korea.
Q: Right. What will they be doing there?
Captain Doubleday: Monitoring the situation.
Q: What does that mean, though? Can you describe it a little bit?
Captain Doubleday: Well, certainly our ships have a capability of maintaining an air picture, watching out for what's going on from a surface perspective by coordinating with air assets. We work very closely with, in a kind of an integrated way, so that we can maintain a very good picture of what is occurring that is of any kind of military significance.
Q: There's no change in the state of alert for the ground troops there, though, right?
Captain Doubleday: As far as I know there's no change. But like Ken did yesterday, I should always mention that our troops in Korea are always on a pretty high state of alertment.
Q: What do you see in terms of North Korean alert status? I think there was some discussion that there had been some view of increased alert along the southern...
Captain Doubleday: I'd have to go back to see. We'll see if I can give you anything on that one. Off the top of my head, I can't tell you.
Q: Any figures for casualties from yesterday's exchange of fire?
Captain Doubleday: I actually have seen some indications of that, but I'm not sure that I brought anything with me. I think probably the safest thing to do is to refer you over there in theater where they have a rundown on that. From a South Korean perspective, my recollection is that there were five South Korean or Republic of Korea forces, individuals, military people, who were wounded. Although they were not in a life-threatening situation, they were hospitalized.
Voice: Seven.
Captain Doubleday: Seven? Excuse me, I'm corrected. Seven. I can't tell you about the North Koreans.
............Q: Back on North Korea, where are the VINCENNES and the additional EA-6Bs coming from?
Captain Doubleday: We'll give you -- I think the VINCENNES is over in the region.
Q: And the EA-6Bs?
Voice: Whidbey Island.
Q: But none of those, the planes have, the same planes that have been on alert, no additional planes have been added and they haven't been moved since, for the last several weeks as a result of this incident?
Captain Doubleday: For the last several weeks?
Q: They haven't been moved, I mean...
Captain Doubleday: Right.
Q: They haven't been moved as a result of...
Captain Doubleday: They were on alert since the KITTY HAWK had to be, the KITTY HAWK schedule was modified to cover other contingencies.
Q: Mike, was anything additional put on alert after yesterday? I think that would answer the question. Everything that's on alert today was on alert several weeks ago?
Captain Doubleday: Well, that's correct. But the thing that changed was the VINCENNES plus one additional ship plus the EA-6Bs are actually going to be moving over there for some period of time -- not expected to be very long, some period of time -- to just make sure that we're satisfied that there's no additional threat, and also I think as a way of demonstrating to our allies, the Republic of Korea, that we are there to support them.
Q: Did you give a number for the EA-6Bs?
Captain Doubleday: I believe it's going to be, hold on just a second. Is it four? I'm not sure that I have it. Yeah.
Q: Is it the entire battle group that's moving?
Captain Doubleday: Excuse me?
Voice: Just two ships.
Q: Just the VINCENNES and...
Captain Doubleday: Right.
Press: Thank you.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun1999/t06161999_t0616asd.html
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