US aircraft carrier to be sent to West Sea

A U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier will be dispatched to the West Sea to conduct a joint training exercise with South Korean naval forces later this month in a show of force against North Korea, reports Korea Times.

It comes after Noth Kokrea fired 170 artillery shells at a South Korean island Tuesday, killing two marines.

Additionally, two civilians were found dead at a construction site on Yeonpyeong Island, according to officials. They were believed to also have been killed by the North’s shelling.

“The USS George Washington carrier striker group will join the Republic of Korea naval forces in the waters west of the Korean Peninsula from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 to conduct the next exercise in the series announced at the 2+2 meetings in July,” the US-led Combined Forces Command (CFC) in Seoul said in a statement.

“U.S. and allied operations are built on an already strong foundation of cooperation and this exercise is intended to further enhance interoperability,” said the statement.

Kim Yong-kyu at the CFC public affairs office said the US government notified China of the dispatch of the aircraft carrier group to the peninsula.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said scores of naval ships led by two KDX-II destroyers will participate in the drill.

The allied forces have conducted a series of joint exercises since South Korea’s Cheonan was torpedoed by a North Korean submarine in March. Forty-six sailors were killed in the sinking.

South Korea’s armed forces were placed on their highest alert level after the North bombarded Yeonpyeong and its nearby waters.