South Korean navy starts military exercises
Drills involving 10 warships practise detecting North Korean submarines
A South Korean warship during a drill in seas off Taean, South Chungcheon province, South Korea. Photograph: Yonhap News Agency/EPA
South Korea fired artillery and dropped bombs in military exercises off the west coast of the divided peninsula today, with tensions running high in the area.
The drills aim to help the military detect incursions by the North's submarines after a team of international investigators said a North Korean torpedo sank a South Korean warship in March.
The navy said 10 vessels, including a destroyer, fired guns and launched anti-submarine bombs south of the capital, Seoul, in a one-day exercise.
The exercises were conducted far from the disputed sea border with North Korea in the Yellow Sea, Yonhap news agency reported, citing military officials.
Pyongyang, which denies any involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan, had earlier said such military exercises would drive the tense situation to the brink of war, although it has often issued such warnings before such drills.
Relations are at their worst for around a dozen years following the Cheonan's sinking and a spate of tit-for-tat measures. The North has said it will sever all relations until the South's president leaves office and yesterday expelled officials from a joint industrial zone.
Experts believe neither side wants military action, but warn there is always a danger of mistakes or misjudgments escalating the conflict.
Yesterday, media in Seoul reported that the South Korean and US military were attempting to track down four Northern submarines which vanished from radar screens. Yonhap reported today that two of the 300-tonne vessels had returned to base after what seemed to be a routine exercise.
Yonhap also said the South would take the Cheonan sinking – in which 46 of its sailors died – to the UN security council as early as next week.
"I believe we can raise the Cheonan incident with the security council as early as next week after putting in maximum efforts to try to persuade China," an unnamed official was quoted as saying.
Beijing – a permanent member of the security council and Pyongyang's main ally – has not so far supported the South Korean investigation, calling instead for both sides to show restraint. But Seoul hopes it will be able to persuade China to go further when its premier, Wen Jiabao, visits on Friday for a summit with President Lee Myung-bak.
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