Seoul goes ahead
February 20, 2012
South Korean troops began their "routine" exercises near islands off the west coast at about 10 am local time Monday and finished about two hours later.
Pyongyang had threatened to respond to South Korea's planned exercises with a "merciless" attack but did not immediately make good on its threat.
Considering North Korea is focusing on internal stability two months after the death of Kim Jong Il, analysts doubted there would be any other reaction than words.
Moreover, the South Korean unification ministry, which handles cross-border ties, insisted the routine drills had nothing to do with inter-Korean relations but was about safeguarding national security.
However, at the same time the US and South Korean navies launched a separate five-day joint anti-submarine drill further to the south in the Yellow Sea to guard against any potential attacks by the North.
Nearly 30,000 US troops remained stationed in South Korea after the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a cease-fire, not peace treaty.
Furthermore, some 1,400 civilians were evacuated to bomb shelters during the drill. In November 2010, Pyongyang had responded to similar exercises by bombing Yeonpyeong island, killing four South Koreans and sparking fears of war.
Seoul has since threatened to react to any similar attack in future in a much tougher way.
Paik Hak-Soon from South Korea’s Sejong Institute criticized the timing of the drill. Kim Jong Un "faces a tough task in shattering this perception that he is a young, weak and inexperienced leader so he’s more likely to take bold, unannounced military actions to break it," he told AFP.
Other analysts said the North was trying to make it seem as if the current administration in Seoul is responsible for exacerbated inter-Korean tension ahead of parliamentary elections in South Korea in April.
However, most agreed that Pyongyang would be reluctant to really raise tensions ahead of the nuclear talks it is due to hold with the US on Thursday. These are aimed at restarting six-nation aid-for-disarmament negotiations. They will be the first since the death of Kim Jung Il and observers are interested in how his son and successor will navigate the tensions.
at / mg (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)