South Korea girds for U.S. show of force with After the attacks of the North Ships

The aircraft carrier USS George Washington and four smaller warships start with morning exercises, ships of South Korea in a show of force warned that North Korea will have the peninsula to the "brink of war."

The exercises, to be held in the waters west of the Korean peninsula, follow North Korea November 23 attack on a fishing community in South Korea and the military base that killed four people including two civilians. Shells shattered the windows of a school and houses torched in Yeonpyeong island in a disputed area about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from the North Korean peninsula.

While the U.S. has called the exercises "defensive in nature," said the regime of Kim Jong Il that any violation of the sovereignty of North Korea could trigger another attack. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Monday ordered the Cabinet to stay in Tokyo in the case of "unexpected" developments.

The bombing of Yeonpyeong tensions escalated after the outbreak of an international investigation found that North Korea torpedoed the battleship Cheonan South Korea in March, killing 46 sailors. President Barack Obama, along with Khan and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak, has asked China to use its influence to moderate the North Korean acts of aggression, while Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has reiterated calls for stability, without attributing any blame to North Korea.

The Korean won was the worst performing currency in Asia against the dollar yesterday after North Korea threatened "a terrible rain of fire." The Kospi stock index fell 1.3 percent.

Defence Minister

South Korea is considering the restoration of North Korea as the "main enemy" in its defense guidelines, Yonhap News reported today, citing an unnamed government official. The term can be restored to a Defense White Paper after the artillery attack by North Korean news agency in Korean, he said.

South Korean Lee appointed former Joint Chiefs Chairman Kim Jin Kwan, 61, to replace Defense Minister Kim Tae Young, who resigned amid criticism that the military response to the bombing was inadequate.

Lee wants to "rebuild the military policy landscape," said Jasper Kim, associate professor at Ewha Women's University Graduate School of International Studies in Seoul. "The current administration of Lee Myung Bak and was aggressive, but so far entered a hyper-aggressive foreign policy."

Lead to war

"Confrontation Stepped lead to war, an agency of the North Korean government in charge of relations with South Korea said in a statement the state Korean Central News Agency. "Gone are the days when verbal warnings are served alone."

Shipping was warned to avoid a Yellow Sea area parallel to the northeast China city of Qingdao, while shooting exercises will take place from November 29 to December 3, according to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Qingdao is located approximately 615 kilometers west of Seoul.

The nuclear-powered USS George Washington, which has about 85 aircraft and is served by a crew of 6500, was passed in the waters of the Korean peninsula in July as part of the U.S. exercises announced after the collapse of Cheonan.

China said at the time it was "strongly opposed" to any foreign military maneuver that could threaten stability in the region. The Foreign Ministry warned yesterday against the exercise of "exclusive economic zone of China without permission, Xinhua News Agency reported.

In view of the notification

The Pentagon reiterated that the U.S. military China reported the planned exercise as it has in the past.

"This exercise and the whole series of exercises not aimed at the Chinese," said U.S. Navy Captain Darryn James, a Pentagon spokesman, yesterday. "It is designed to strengthen deterrence against North Korea."

China is the main benefactor of North Korea economic and political and the two countries fought together against the US-led United Nations forces during the Korean War of 1950-53. The peninsula is kept in a technical state of war since the conflict ended with a ceasefire.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, called for the prevention of further escalation in the peninsula and pledged to "work to relieve the tension between the two parts of Korea and the resumption of six-party talks "during a phone call today, according to an e-mailed statement from the ministry in Moscow.

The exercises in the United States and South Korea, involving air defense and surface warfare training in the provision, are "designed to improve our military commitment to regional stability through deterrence," said EE. UU. Forces Korea in Seoul on 24 November.

Bombing

U.S. is "shoulder to shoulder" with South Korea, Obama said Lee in a November 23 phone calls after the island of bombing, the first of its kind since the war. U.S. has about 25,000 troops stationed in South Korea.

North Korea called the South Korean exercise "military provocation" carried out in its waters.

The western sea border demarcated by the UN after the war and never accepted by North Korea, was the scene of deadly naval clashes in 1999 and 2002.

North Korea maintains that the border has drawn further south to include Yeonpyeong and four neighboring islands as part of its territory.