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| Adm. Harry Harris (Image: Wiki Commons) |
By: David B. Larter
WASHINGTON — The head of all U.S. forces in the Pacific told lawmakers continuing exercises between the South Korean and U.S. forces are vital to the alliance amid China’s call to curtail them.
The Carl Vinson carrier strike group, which recently had its deployment extended, is conducting exercises with the Republic of Korea while Exercise Max Thunder, a massive air exercise involving U.S. and South Korean troops on the peninsula, continues through the week.
China believes the exercises destabilize the situation with North Korea and that if the U.S. curtailed them the Kim Jong-Un regime might agree to deescalate. But Harris said the exercises should continue so the U.S. can fulfill its treaty obligations.
“We are obliged to defend South Korea by a treaty,” Adm. Harry Harris, head of U.S. Pacific Command, told lawmakers.
"They have a very strong and capable military, as we do. But if we're going to defend them or if we're going to fight with them on the peninsula then we have to be able to integrate with their military, we have to be able to work with their military, we have to understand their military and vice versa."
Harris said the exercises should not be seen as aggressive but as a message of resolve between the allies.
Read the full story at NavyTimes