Text Fwd: Japan To Send Military Officers To U.S.-South Korean Maneuvers

* Text informed from Stop NATO on July 23, 2010

Xinhua News Agency
July 24, 2010

Japan to send SDF to U.S.-S Korea joint drill: report

TOKYO: Japan is in the final process of having the Self-Defense Forces join a military drill to be conducted by the United States and South Korea, Kyodo News reported Friday, quoting unspecified government sources as saying.

The Japanese Defense Ministry is considering sending several officers from the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) to the joint exercise set for Sunday through Wednesday in the Sea of Japan, the sources said. Japan is unlikely to dispatch any vessel to the drill.

"The government has judged that sending the SDF as an observer would not violate Japan's pacifist Constitution", the report said.

South Korea and the United States have agreed to stage a series of joint naval and air drills starting next week, which the White House said are "defensive in nature" and are designed to send a " signal of deterrence" to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

China on Wednesday expressed concern over the military exercises, urging relevant parties to exercise calm and to refrain from acts that might escalate tension in the region.

The first joint exercise involving the U.S. aircraft carrier USS George Washington will come July 25 in waters off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, and the two allies plan to stage more drills down the road in both the Yellow Sea and the East Sea.
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