South Korean Navy Decides Not to Participate in Sea Breeze 21 Exercise
From a strategic perspective it really makes no sense for the ROK to participate in a naval exercise in the Black Sea:
The United States fully respects South Korea’s decision to skip a multinational naval exercise, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday, also adding Seoul’s decision does not affect the South Korea-U.S. alliance in any way.
“It’s a sovereign decision by a nation state. And they’re certainly entitled to make that decision and to speak to that decision and we absolutely respect it,” the spokesman, John Kirby, said in a press briefing.
South Korea earlier said it had been invited to take part in the U.S.-led exercise, Sea Breeze 21, in the Black Sea that involves some 5,000 troops from 32 countries, including NATO members, but that it has decided not to take part.
The multinational exercise got under way this week and is scheduled to end July 10.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but South Korea will be participating in the Talisman Sabre multinational exercise with Australia which makes more sense for them strategically to participate in.
It’s totally not because it’s the “Black” Sea, right?
‘It’s totally not because it’s the “Black” Sea, right?’
That’s pretty racist to point out.
But, yes, the last time they participated, their ship came back with no hubcaps, the stereo missing, and MOTHERFÙCKER crudely spray painted on the side.
After the Red Sea exercise, the ship came back full of arrows.
But the worst was when everybody came back gay after the exercise in the Sulu Sea.
And, of course, they operate daily in the Yellow Sea.
I’m a bit of a nautical historian.
To participate in that exercise, the ROKN would have to redeploy its destroyer which is participating in anti-piracy operations off Somalia to the Black Sea, which isn’t exactly feasible.
Exactly how may pirates have they caught, one wonders…
My friend sailed through the Suez Canal on his way back to Korea. He was escorted by a Korean navy ship for some distance away from Africa.
That’s a pretty good service.
A better service would be to count the number of grid squares in that entire part of Africa and load up the B52s.
CH, I would tend to agree; but bombs are more expensive than blankets.
Hey! Wait! I’m kidding! Really!!
Besides, that Somali-immigrant-turned-policeman in Minneapolis only shot the unarmed blond woman wearing pajamas when she tried to report a crime because she was uppity, wasn’t in a burka, and didn’t have a chaperone. It wasn’t murder murder…
@setnaffa,
The ROKN anti-piracy mission off Somalia , unlike other half-baked and for show overseas deployment such as the missions to Iraq and Afghanistan, is a rare example of a sensible overseas military deployment done right,
They even stormed a Korean merchantman which was seized by Somali pirates, rescued its crew and arrested the surviving pirates.
The only gripe is that they are depending on a single class of six destroyers instead of spreading it to other ships, which puts unnecessary strains on the destroyers in question and its crews.
@TOK, I completely agree. Most of the “good guys” have less than 50% of the escort/patrol ships needed. That so-called “peace dividend” after the fall of the USSR was just a bunch of hooey.