Naval exercises United States message to North Korea

[Dover]

Daily Times
August 25, 2004


...It is not yet clear what countries will participate in the exercise, other than Australia and the United States; the paper quoted the Pentagon as saying. The training is to take place in the Coral Sea off north eastern Australia in September.

The exercise will include practicing the “non-permissive boarding” of ships carrying banned materials such as drugs, missile components and nuclear materials, the paper said. “We are not saying which countries are being targeted because it would not be politically wise,” an Asian diplomat said of the naval exercise. “But the American government believes that one of the reasons why North Korea has agreed to the six-party talks in Beijing is that they are feeling the pinch.”

Washington is to take part in six-nation talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions. The talks, due to start on August 27 in Beijing, will involve North and South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia.

Meanwhile, US and South Korean troops began joint war games Monday in the face of objection from North Korea which condemned the exercise as a rehearsal for a pre-emptive strike on the communist country. The annual Ulchi Focus Lens exercise, focusing on computerized war simulations with North Korea, involves 14,500 US forces based in and out of South Korea, US military authorities here said. Seoul’s defence ministry gave no exact figures on South Korean troops participating in the 12-day exercise, but confirmed it was the biggest joint military manoeuvres with the United States. DPRK renews demands ahead of nuclear talks: North Korea warned Monday it would not dismantle its nuclear arsenal unless the United States changed its policy towards Pyongyang, reiterating its hardline stance ahead of next week’s six-nation nuclear talks...cont'd

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