SEOUL, Aug. 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korean armed forces readied themselves against invasion by North Korean special forces in the western waters during the second day of their anti-submarine naval drills, military officials said Friday.

   "The first day focused on tracking submarines, and Day 2 was about destroying the simulated enemy submarines," said an official with the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). "There are 180,000 special operations troops in North Korea, and we are trying to stay prepared against their maritime intrusion."

   The official added the second day's exercises also included preparing against coastal artillery offensive and exchanging fire with simulated submarines.

   Some 4,500 troops from all four branches of the service -- army, navy, air force and marines -- have been mobilized for the maneuver in the Yellow Sea that involves an amphibious landing ship, a major destroyer and dozens of fighter jets.

   The drills are designed to be South Korea's latest response to North Korea's provocation. Seoul believes the North torpedoed its warship Cheonan in the Yellow Sea on March 26, killing 46 sailors. North Korea has maintained it had nothing to do with the sinking.

   Another military official said live-firing drills of self-propelled guns continued Friday around the South's northwestern islands, located near the western maritime border, the Northern Limit Line (NLL).

   North Korea this week has warned of physical response to South Korea's exercises, but Seoul has countered that the drills are purely defensive in nature.

   "These drills are conducted in much the same way as previous ones," the military official said. "It's too much for North Korea to be so sensitive about this."

   The South's military said USS George Washington, the U.S. aircraft carrier, will not join the ongoing exercises. Earlier in the day, the Pentagon announced that the carrier will take part in future joint naval drills with South Korea in the Yellow Sea but didn't provide specific dates.

   USS George Washington participated in the joint exercises late last month in the East Sea. At the time, China's protests against having drills in the Yellow Sea, close to the Chinese waters, apparently forced Seoul and Washington to relocate their maneuvers to the east.

   "When USS George Washington will take part in exercises is something we have to decide through consultations with the U.S.," a South Korean military official said. "We don't yet have specific dates or places."

   jeeho@yna.co.kr
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