<<<背景介绍

       57年前的一个周二，美国领导的联合国军与中朝军队宣布停火，朝鲜战争结束。自此之后，朝鲜半岛一直处于分裂状态。而最近不断升级的紧张局势，恰恰说明朝鲜半岛和平来之不易。

       3月，韩国“天安”号军舰被击沉，46名船员身亡，南北矛盾进一步升级。5月，韩美和数个其他国家组成的一个调查小组认定，朝鲜鱼雷击沉了韩国军舰。朝方否认了此项指控，并声称调查“掺假”。

    The United States and the Republic of Korea began their largest joint war games in years on Sunday, with a nuclear-powered American aircraft carrier prowling off the east coast of Korea while the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea threatened to retaliate and reportedly put its military on alert for war.

    The United States and the ROK announced new sanctions against the DPRK last week when their foreign and defense ministers traveled together to the inter-Korean border.

    In a show of the allies’ military power on Sunday, a fleet of American and ROK ships and submarines sailed into waters off the east coast of Korea, led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington, one of the biggest ships in the United States Navy. Japan, a historical rival of Korea but an ally of the ROK and the US in their confrontation with the DPRK, sent observers to the exercise.

    The drills mobilized 20 ships, a combined 8,000 troops and an unusually large number of warplanes: more than 200 aircraft, including the F-22 Raptor fighter, which was part of an exercise in Korea for the first time.

    The exercises this week are the first in what is scheduled to be a series of joint maneuvers over the coming months. United States officials warned last week that a power struggle over who will succeed the ailing DPRK leader, Kim Jong-il, might lead to further military skirmishes.