2010-07-16 07:10

NEW YORK -- A joint naval exercise by the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) in the Yellow Sea will soon be held as planned despite protests from China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK), a top ROK defense official said Thursday.

The naval exercise will go ahead "in the near future" though a US aircraft carrier will only participate in the East Sea and not in the Yellow Sea near China's territorial waters, said South Korean Vice Defense Minister Chang Soo-man.

Chang said during a brief presentation and follow-up question-and-answer session that the "major purpose is to give threat to DPRK" as a response to the March deadly sinking of a ROK warship. And he said Pyongyang has 30 to 40 kilograms (66 to 88 pounds) of weaponized plutonium. That would be enough for up to half a dozen or more bombs.

"DPRK may protest, but I don't think that will be a problem," he said. "Despite the provocation, the two Koreas are maintaining a minimum level of cooperation."

Chang said South Korea also "will soon have another anti-submarine naval exercise."

His talk, which he called an overview of ROK's efforts at "stable management" of the latest crisis on the Korean Peninsula, said this was an "inappropriate time for sensitive changes in defense posture."

ROK and the US have called the sinking a violation of the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953, while Pyongyang denied responsibility and warned any punishment would trigger war.

"We are thinking (that it was) a DPRK's submarine, not a big one, but a small one, 300 or 400 tons size," that fired upon the Cheonan, Chang said.

The UN Security Council approved a statement that condemned the sinking, but it stopped short of directly blaming DPRK. The UN Command, which oversees the armistice, separately investigated whether the sinking violated the truce, though the findings have not been disclosed.