DTN News - FOAL EAGLE 2012: US, South Korean Forces Joint Military Exercise Foal Eagle Largest Of Year In South Korea

Defense News:  DTN News - FOAL EAGLE 2012: US, South Korean Forces Joint Military Exercise Foal Eagle Largest Of Year In South Korea
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith 
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 29, 2012: The annual combined field training exercise, part of Foal Eagle 2012, is conducted between the Republic of Korea and United States forces and is one of the largest annual military training exercises in the world. In the past, this annual training has caused tensions with North Korea.

The primary purpose of Foal Eagle is to demonstrate ROK-US military resolve to deter war on the Korean peninsula and to improve the combined and joint operational posture of those forces. Foal Eagle is a purely defensive exercise which tests the capability of the Republic of Korea (ROK) to defend itself, assisted by U.S. armed forces, and it is also primarily a rear area security and stability operations, onward movement of critical assets to the forward area, special operations, ground maneuver, amphibious operations, combat air operations, maritime action group operations and counter special operations forces exercises (CSOFEX)

United Nations Command informs the Korean People's Army in North Korea that the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States would be conducting the routine defensive exercise. The United Nations Command also reassured the Korean People's Army at general officer-level talks that these exercises, conducted annually in or around March, are purely defensive in nature and have no connection to ongoing or current events. The Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission monitors the exercise to ensure that there are no violations of the Korean Armistice Agreement.

Since 2001, Foal Eagle combined with the annual ROK-US Reception, Staging, Onward movement, and Integration (RSOI) combined exercises, with RSOI being re-named Key Resolve in 2008.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith - DTN News
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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: South Korea Mission Strategically Important, Officials Say

Defense News: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: South Korea Mission Strategically Important, Officials Say
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Karen Parrish - American Forces Press Service
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 28, 2012: U.S. forces in South Korea help to sustain an important alliance, deter an unpredictable threat and support the national defense strategy’s shift toward the Asia-Pacific region, senior defense officials told Congress today.

Peter Lavoy, acting assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, testified along with Army Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, before the House Armed Services Committee in a hearing examining the security situation on the Korean peninsula.

“For over 60 years, the United States has maintained a presence on the Korean peninsula to deter aggression against … [South Korea] and to fight and win, should deterrence fail,” Lavoy said.

The U.S.-South Korean alliance continues to be a cornerstone of U.S. regional strategy, and department and military leaders will continue to strengthen that alliance, make U.S. forces there more efficient and effective, and enhance presence, power projection and deterrence in the region, he added.

Lavoy said North Korea's “provocative behavior” continues to present a serious threat to the United States, its allies, and the region. He noted that North Korea has a large conventional military and is pursuing ballistic missile and weapons-of-mass-destruction programs, including uranium enrichment.

In response to that threat, he said, the U.S. and South Korean governments and militaries are working to strengthen strategic capabilities, further integrate operations and work from an alliance perspective to meet current and emerging threats.

The two countries have a comprehensive plan under the Strategic Alliance 2015 framework to transition wartime operational control from the U.S.-South Korean combined forces command to the South Korean joint chiefs of staff by December 2015, Lavoy told the panel. The transition will allow South Korea to lead its national defense while maintaining an enduring U.S. defense commitment and capability, he said.

In line with the strategic agreement, U.S. forces will consolidate and relocate from the metropolitan area of the South Korean capital of Seoul to centralized locations south of the city, he said. The move will improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance force protection by placing most service members and equipment outside the effective range of North Korean artillery, Lavoy told the committee.

Thurman said the U.S.-South Korean relationship is “the finest military partnership I have experienced in my 37-year career.”

As the democratic, wealthier southern neighbor of a closed-off North Korea, Thurman said, South Korea faces the threat of attack or provocation that can come with little or no warning.

“Our deterrent capability is based on U.S. and [South Korean] military readiness, and this is my primary focus,” the general said. “I have conducted a thorough review, including two combined exercises, and I have determined our forces remain ready to defend the … Korean peninsula.”

Both militaries are well-equipped, well-trained and professional, Thurman said, while the alliance is strong and the U.S. presence provides a stabilizing influence in the region.

“I think just by having a forward presence, that is a calming effect,” he added.

His forces train to respond to chemical and biological as well as conventional weapons attacks, Thurman said, and work hand in hand with South Korean forces on cyber defense.

“I have come to realize that cyber is a key warfighting domain,” he said. “It is [as] important as our air, maritime and ground operations.”

Thurman said he would welcome productive talks between the United States and North Korea, “but my sense is the [approach they have] taken with their military-first policy is not going to change.”

Thurman said his force numbers and equipment are able to meet the mission, but he acknowledged he’d like to see some adjustments. While he has enough troops, the standard one-year tour junior service members serve in South Korea creates a “churn” of 600 to 700 men and women arriving or leaving each month, he said.

“So I have asked [Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, Army chief of staff] and the Army to look at how we can build readiness at best value, and see what we can do,” he said. “And I'm very mindful of the cost, and I don't want to create a requirement that is not operationally focused.”

The general said he’d also like to increase his air capabilities.

“We do not have a full combat aviation brigade there,” Thurman noted. “I have asked the department as well as the Department of the Army and back through [U.S. Pacific Command] and the Joint Staff to look at adding that battalion back that was repositioned out of there to meet requirements for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Thurman emphasized his forces feel a sense of satisfaction in their mission.

“I think what makes Korea unique is we have a threat to the north. We have a well-stated mission. And I have not seen a decline [in] any morale issues,” he said. “This requires active leaders, leaders that are sensitive to the needs of their service members. And that's where I put my effort in making sure that, if there [are] any quality-of-life issues, then we quickly try to resolve that.”

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Karen Parrish - American Forces Press Service
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DTN News - FOAL EAGLE 2012: US, South Korean Joint Exercise Foal Eagle Largest Of Year

Defense News: DTN News - FOAL EAGLE 2012: US, South Korean Joint Exercise Foal Eagle Largest Of Year
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Jon Rabiroff - Stars and Stripes
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 15, 2012: South Korea — U.S. and South Korean soldiers fired several rounds of artillery into a hillside here Thursday as part of the largest alliance exercise of the year on the peninsula.

After the half-hour exercise, Lt. Col. Adam Robinson of the Utah National Guard’s 145th Field Artillery Battalion talked about how the drill would better prepare U.S. and South Korean troops for a potential invasion from North Korea.

He stopped short of saying anything provocative about the North, even going as far as suggesting at one point, “We want to have peace.”

In doing so, Robinson became the latest in a long line of commanders involved in U.S.-South Korean military exercises in recent years to shy away from any of the chest-thumping rhetoric that usually accompanies exercises carried out by North Korea’s military.

For example, earlier this month during a North Korean drill near the disputed maritime sea border between the two countries, military commanders reportedly warned of a future attack much harsher than one the North launched in 2010 on Yeonpyeong Island, which left four South Koreans dead.

“We only fired a small number of artillery last time, “ North Korean Col. Gen. Pyon In Son was quoted as saying. “We will mobilize all our corps’ artillery pieces to turn them into a real sea of fire this time.”

U.S. Forces Korea spokeswoman Jennifer Buschick said alliance officials see no benefit to getting into a war of words.

“Bellicose rhetoric serves no constructive purpose, does not contribute to stability in the region and is not in the spirit of the armistice” (which halted Korean War hostilities in 1953), she said.

“Our mission is to maintain peace and stability, and to deter aggression on the Korean peninsula, and if that should fail we are prepared to fight and win,” Buschick said. “Our training events are transparent, defense-oriented and designed to increase readiness to defend (South Korea).”

The U.S. and South Korea are in the midst of Foal Eagle, the alliance’s largest military exercise of the year, which runs from March 1 to April 30, and involves as many as 200,000 South Korean troops and approximately 11,000 U.S. forces, most of whom will travel to the peninsula specifically for the exercise.

That was the case Thursday as the 145th traveled from Utah just days in advance of the exercise, during which U.S. Paladin M-109A6s and South Korean K-55s lined up side-by-side and fired in the direction of Rodriquez Range from an off-base staging area.

Robinson said the exercise showed that his battalion was prepared to deploy quickly from the U.S. and join with a South Korean unit - in this case the 628th Field Artillery Battalion - “to prepare for a possible invasion if that happens.”

Asked what, if any, message the exercise might send to North Korea, he said, “That we can work together; that we are united; that we can train together and that we’re ready to fight together.

“We have learned much from them, and they from us, and we will be better prepared if, in case, something happens,” Robinson said.

rabiroffj@pstripes.osd.mil

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Jon Rabiroff - Stars and Stripes
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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: North Korea Threatens Retaliation Over South's War Games

Defense News: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: North Korea Threatens Retaliation Over South's War Games
*Analysis - Lately the global media coverage has been basically on Syrian unrest and Iran nuclear factor. North Korea felt neglected and swept aside by South Korea, U.S. and rest of the world, as urgently needed aid is required in several sectors. 
North Korea, to attract global attention, issue's its usual warning to attack South Korea on pretext of joint military exercises between U.S. forces on the Korean peninsula.  By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 19, 2012:  North Korea warned South Korea on Sunday that it would shell islands close to their disputed sea border if the South violates its territorial waters during a military drill reported to begin in the Yellow Sea this week.

The official KCNA news agency also quoted the North's military as urging civilians living on five islands near the disputed area to evacuate before the start of the military exercises on Monday.

The North has repeatedly threatened armed retaliation against the South's military exercises but it is rare for Pyongyang to mention in advance about evacuation of civilians over such drills.

The North's military said that if the South "starts a reckless military provocation in those waters, trespassing on the DPRK's inviolable marine demarcation line,.... the KPA will promptly make merciless retaliatory strikes."

DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea and KPA for Korean People's Army.

South Korean media last week reported the South Korean and U.S. troops will stage a joint five-day anti-submarine exercise in the Yellow Sea from Monday.

There was no official confirmation of the exercises.

Both Koreas regularly conduct exercises near their disputed maritime border, raising the riskof a miscalculation by either side which could ignite a wider war.

In its warning on Sunday, North Korea said the South "should not forget" its shelling on the southern island of Yeonpyeong in November 2010, in which four people including two civilians were killed.

The attack on the island was the first on civilians since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The North at the time said the South's military drill near the disputed western maritime border triggered its bombardment.

(Reporting by Sung-won Shim; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
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