DATE=8/16/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=S. KOREA - U-S MILITARY EXERCISE
NUMBER=2-252820
BYLINE=HYUN SUNG KHANG
DATELINE=SEOUL
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United States and South Korea have begun
twelve days of joint military exercises which they
describe as an effective deterrent to external
aggression. The operation comes amid concerns that
neighboring North Korea may be preparing to test fire
a long-range missile. As Hyun-Sung Khang reports from
the South Korean capital, Seoul, the reclusive North
has already denounced the joint exercise.
TEXT: The military exercises are an annual event
between South Korea and the United States, but North
Korea accuses the allies of belligerence in
going ahead with them. A "war gamble" is how one
influential Pyongyang government body described them.
The North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification
of the Fatherland, went on to say that the military
operation demonstrates that
no one can predict when Washington and Seoul will
unleash a total war on the Korean peninsula.
Pyongyang also warns that the exercise will hurt
relations with the South.
But a spokeswoman for the U-S military command in
Seoul says the 25th annual drill is no more than a
routine defensive training exercise. The joint
operation, named Ulchi Focus Lens, is one of the
largest annual military exercises conducted by the
United States. It involves 14-thousand U-S
soldiers stationed in South Korea, and almost five and
a half thousand more from the U-S mainland, Japan and
Guam -- along with 56 thousand South Korean troops.
The operation largely involves computer simulations
designed to evaluate and improve joint contingency
operations. At the center of the exercise is the U-S-
S Blue Ridge, a command vessel, which will lead an
unspecified number of warships.
The exercises come amid rising concern within the
region that North Korea may be preparing to test fire
a second long-range missile, which could have the
capacity to strike Hawaii or Alaska. The North's
launch of a multi-stage missile, a year ago, shocked
the region. The United States, Japan and South Korea
have warned of economic and diplomatic sanctions
should North Korea go ahead with a new launch. But
Pyongyang has consistently maintained it has the
sovereign right to test fire a missile should it so
choose.
NEB/HSK/FC/PLM
16-Aug-1999 03:44 AM EDT (16-Aug-1999 0744 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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