ROK, US to hold joint navy exercises

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States will hold joint anti-submarine exercises in another show of force against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), officials said on Friday.

The exercises will be the second in a series of joint maneuvers the allies planned to conduct in response to the deadly sinking of an ROK warship in March that they blame on the DPRK. The two sides staged large-scale joint naval drills in July followed by the ROK's own naval drills last month.

The drills, set to run from Sunday through Thursday off the Korean Peninsula's west coast, will involve about 17,000 US and ROK troops, seven ships and two submarines as well as aircraft, according to the ROK's Joint Chiefs of Staff and the US military in Seoul.