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　　美国一艘尼米兹级核动力航母已于7月25日开始与其盟国韩国举行联合军事演习，这是一种强有力的力量展示方式。朝鲜已威胁称，美韩军演将导致“神圣战争”。

　　代号为“不屈意志”的军演将一直持续至周三，8000名美韩士兵、20艘舰只和潜艇、200架飞机将参加军演。载有数千名水兵和数十架战斗机的“华盛顿”航母从日本前往演习海域。

　　朝鲜总是在美韩举行联合军演时发出要进行攻击的威胁。朝鲜认为，美韩联合军演是对朝鲜发动入侵行动的彩排。美国目前在韩国驻有28500名军人，在日本驻有5万军人。美国称，它无意入侵朝鲜。

　　虽然如此，朝鲜有关威胁动用“核威慑力”和“神圣战争”的最新措词在“天安号”事件发生后更具份量。46名韩国水兵在“天安号”警戒舰爆炸事件中丧生。韩国和美国称，一枚朝鲜鱼雷是导致“天安号”3月份沉没的原因，这被认为是自1950年至1953年朝鲜战争后韩国所遭到的最严重的军事攻击事件。

　　美国和韩国防务首脑本周早些时候宣布，他们将举行军事演习以便向朝鲜发出明确信息，以使其停止“侵略”行为。

　　演习将是在日本海和靠近中国海岸的黄海国际水域举行的美韩系列军事演习的首个演习。F-22隐形战斗机也将首次在演习期间被部署至韩国，它可以避开朝鲜的防空系统。韩国联合通讯社报道称，韩国正密切监视朝鲜军方的动向，但23日没有观察到朝鲜军方有异常活动。

　　N. Korea vows nuclear response to U.S. drills

　　HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A massive nuclear-powered U.S. supercarrier began maneuvers Sunday with ally South Korea in a potent show of force that North Korea has threatened could lead to "sacred war."

　　The military drills, code-named "Invincible Spirit," are to run through Wednesday with about 8,000 U.S. and South Korean troops, 20 ships and submarines and 200 aircraft. The Nimitz-class USS George Washington, with several thousand sailors and dozens of fighters aboard, was deployed from Japan。

　　The North routinely threatens attacks whenever South Korea and the U.S. hold joint military drills, which Pyongyang sees as a rehearsal for an invasion. The U.S. keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea and another 50,000 in Japan, but says it has no intention of invading the North。

　　Still, the North's latest rhetoric threatening "nuclear deterrence" and "sacred war" carries extra weight following the sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors. Seoul and Washington say a North Korean torpedo was responsible for the March sinking of the Cheonan, considered the worst military attack on the South since the 1950-53 Korean War。

　　The American and South Korean defense chiefs announced earlier in the week they would stage the military drills to send a clear message to North Korea to stop its "aggressive" behavior。

　　The exercises will be the first in a series of U.S.-South Korean maneuvers to be conducted in the Sea of Japan off Korea's east coast and in the Yellow Sea closer to China's shores in international waters. The exercises also are the first to employ the F-22 stealth fighter — which can evade North Korean air defenses — in South Korea。

　　South Korea was closely monitoring North Korea's military, but no unusual activity had been observed Saturday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported。

　　North Korea, which denies any involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan warship, has warned the United States against attempting to punish it。

　　"The army and people of the DPRK will legitimately counter with their powerful nuclear deterrence the largest-ever nuclear war exercises to be staged by the U.S. and the South Korean puppet forces," North Korea's official news agency in Pyongyang quoted an unnamed government spokesman as saying. North Korea's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea。

　　Though the impoverished North has a large conventional military and the capability to build nuclear weapons, it is not believed to have the technology needed to use nuclear devices as warheads。

　　Its rhetoric regarding using nuclear deterrence was seen by most as bluster, but its angry response to the maneuvers underscores the rising tensions in the region。

　　U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Wednesday, after visiting the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas, that the U.S. would slap new sanctions on the North to stifle its nuclear ambitions and punish it for the Cheonan sinking。

　　On Friday, the European Union said it, too, would consider new sanctions on North Korea。

　　The North's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that Pyongyang will further strengthen its nuclear deterrent and again mentioned "powerful physical measures" in response to the U.S. military provocations and sanctions。

　　In an apparent bow to China, the George Washington will participate in the exercise in the Sea of Japan, but there are no plans for it to enter the Yellow Sea for the subsequent exercises。

　　China, a traditional North Korean ally, has voiced concerns that military drills in the Yellow Sea could inflame tensions on the Korean Peninsula and also fears exercises too close to its own shores could breach Chinese security。

　　The George Washington had been expected to join in exercises off Korea sooner, but the Navy delayed those plans as the United Nations Security Council met to deliberate what action it should take over the Cheonan sinking。

　　The council eventually condemned the incident, but stopped short of naming North Korea as the perpetrator。

　　(文章来源：AP)

　　(解雨)