美帝軍艦開往天朝門口
About 20 U.S and South Korean naval vessels have begun maneuvers off the west coast of the Korean peninsula.
The war games come less than a week after North Korea launched a deadly artillery barrage on an occupied South Korea island near a disputed maritime border.
The USS George Washington aircraft carrier and its strike force joined a pair of South Korean naval destroyers and other vessels in the Yellow Sea on Sunday.
U.S. officials say the war game was planned before last Tuesday's North Korean artillery attack on a South Korean island. But they are not denying the maneuvers are a show of force meant to deter Pyongyang from further provocations. The U.S. Navy says the drill will not include any live firing.
The director of South Korea's Research Institute of National Security Affairs, Choi Jong Chul, says it is unlikely North Korea will do anything provocative while the joint maneuvers are under way.
Choi, who is also a professor of military strategy at the Korea National Defense University, says, however, once the U.S. aircraft carrier departs, it cannot be predicted what North Korea will do, thus Seoul needs to be prepared for any eventuality.
South Korean media reports say North Korean forces have put surface-to-surface missiles on launch pads in the Yellow Sea and moved surface-to-air missiles to front-line areas.
Pyongyang is warning of retaliation amid the US-South Korean maneuvers. An official news agency dispatch Sunday spoke of North Korean forces delivering a "brutal military blow" if its territory is violated.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Monday is to make a national address regarding the situation. He has not spoken in public or to reporters since last Tuesday's attack.
Mr. Lee met with a delegation of Chinese officials in Seoul Sunday, led by powerful State Councilor Dai Bingguo.
Presidential press secretary Hong Sang Pyong says South Korea and China discussed how Beijing can prevent the situation on the Korean peninsula from further deteriorating.
The spokesman says President Lee also conveyed to the Chinese that Seoul will forcefully respond to any further military provocations from Pyongyang.
Meanwhile, China's official Xinhua news agency says the chairman of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, Choe Tae Bok, is to begin a 5-day visit to China from Tuesday. China is North Korea's most powerful ally.
Two South Korean marines and two civilians died in last Tuesday's shelling of Yeonpyeong island. At the funeral for the marines, dignitaries and weeping relatives laid white chrysanthemums on an altar.
The commander of South Korea's marines, Major General You Nak-jun, vowed a "thousand-fold" retaliation for the attack that killed his men.
North Korea acknowledges hitting the island while a South Korean annual military drill was under way there. The exercise included the firing of artillery westward into the sea. Pyongyang says if there were civilian deaths that is regrettable, but adds South Korea is using civilians as human shields on the island.
Those remaining on the island were ordered into bunkers for 40 minutes
Sunday amid reports of fresh artillery firing from North Korea, 12 kilometers away.
There is no indication any shells hit the island Sunday. But all journalists were ordered by the Defense Ministry to leave the island by the end of a day. The ministry sent an emergency text message saying there is danger because it cannot be predicted what provocative action North Korea might take.
