US sends aircraft carrier to South Korea for joint exercises

Mar 9, 2011, 13:13 GMT

(FILE): An undated file photograph released on 09 March 2011 shows the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan. The U.S. 7th Fleet announced on 09 March that the 97,000-ton supercarrier will participate in the ongoing annual South Korea-U.S. joint military drill, called \'Key Resolve/ Foal Eagle,\' that began on 28 February. EPA/YNA

Seoul - The United States dispatched an aircraft carrier and its escort ships for joint manoeuvres to South Korea that North Korea condemned as preparations for an invasion while threatening war if it felt provoked.

The USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group, which includes a guided-missile cruiser and destroyer squadron, is to participate in the annual Foal Eagle exercises, which began with another annual exercise, Key Resolve, on February 28 and are to continue through April 30.

The Foal Eagle field-training manoeuvres are 'designed to enhance the combat readiness of the Republic of Korea and US supporting forces through combined training,' the US 7th Fleet, based in the Pacific, said in a statement released Wednesday in Asia.

The Key Resolve exercises are focused on computer-based war games. Both drills involve about 200,000 South Korean troops and 13,000 US soldiers, both militaries said.

North Korea's military condemned the drills, charging that they were meant to 'examine the practicability of the adventurous 'plan on local war'' against North Korea.

Pyongyang said it would 'respond to reckless provocation by the aggressors with an all-out war at any time' and turn Seoul into a 'sea of fire.'

The USS Ronald Reagan, on which 5,680 sailors serve, was expected in South Korea's south-eastern port of Pusan this month, the South's Yonhap News Agency reported, citing the country's military.

The exercises are taking place amid high tensions on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea bombarded a South Korean island in the Yellow Sea in November with artillery fire, killing four people.

Days later, South Korea and the US began naval manoeuvres, in which the USS George Washington aircraft carrier took part.

The Foal Eagle and Key Resolve drills are the first regularly scheduled exercises to be held since the artillery attack.