America ups ante in Korean standoff by sending carrier to naval exercises

UNDERLINING US commitment to the defence of South Korea, the massive nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington will arrive in the country today to take part in joint exercises along the east coast of the divided peninsular.

Its deployment and that of its powerful associated escort vessels is intended to send a clear signal to Kim Jong-il's regime in the North that Washington has the means and intent to assist Seoul in response to any provocation from Pyongyang.

The move follows the torpedo sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan by North Korea in May, in which 46 sailors lost their lives.

It was the worst military attack on South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War. The two Koreas remain in a state of war because the conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

South Korea and the US plan to conduct a four-day combined maritime and air readiness exercise, dubbed Invincible Spirit, off from 25-28 July, their militaries said in joint statement.

About 8,000 South Korean and US troops, more than 20 alliance warships and submarines including the USS George Washington and 200 military planes are to take part in next week's drills, the statement said.

The F-22 Raptor combat fighter - which uses Stealth technology - will also be flying training missions in and around Korea for the first time, it added. US defence secretary Robert Gates said Washington and Seoul wanted to send a "clear message" to North Korea after the March sinking of the Cheonan.

"These defensive, combined exercises are designed to send a clear message to North Korea that its aggressive behaviour must stop, and that we are committed to together enhancing our combined defensive capabilities," Mr Gates and South Korea's defence minister Kim Tae-young said in a joint statement. Mr Gates and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit the Demilitarised Zone dividing the two Koreas today in a further gesture of support.

"The warmongers would be well advised to behave themselves, bearing deep in mind the consequences to be entailed by the above-said war moves," the North's government-run Minju Joson newspaper said in a commentary carried yesterday by the official Korean Central News Agency. China has also opposed the South Korea-US military exercise saying it would inflame tension on the peninsula.

But of particular concern to Beijing is a later planned joint exercise off South Korea's west coast, in the Yellow Sea.

The possible deployment of a US carrier strike group there has led a number of People's Liberation Army generals to voice their anger. One, Major General Luo Yuan, told an online discussion hosted by the People's Daily that the USS George Washington's aircraft, including the F-22 Raptor -- would be within attack range of Beijing while they conducted their exercise, and questioned whether America would tolerate Chinese aircraft so close to its own capital.

The US has stressed that all manoeuvres will be held in international waters.