Shin said there were only five such drills in the
January-August period in 2009, and only two over the same period a
year earlier.
Shin said North Korea's semi-submarine exercises jumped from 14 in
the first eight months of 2010 to 22 this year.
Last March, North
Korea torpedoed the South Korean warship Cheonan, killing 46 sailors
aboard. Eight months later, it bombed the border island of Yeonpyeong
and killed four, including two civilians. The Yellow Sea has also
been a site of three naval skirmishes between the Koreas since 1999.
In the East Sea,
the number of North Korean submarine drills went up from 25 to 39
over the past year, Shin said. The lawmaker noted that most of the
East Sea exercises took place between June and August.
Shin said North
Korea also owns about 260 high-speed landing crafts and flying hovercrafts
for landing operations. The North's new naval base in Koampo in Hwanghae
Province near the Yellow Sea could be nearing completion, Shin added.
Shin said South
Korean patrol boats and anti-submarine frigates are outdated and have
been unable to detect North Korean submarines.
According to his
data, a patrol boat named Sokcho failed to identity any North Korean
submarines during a three-day exercise in August last year.
In the first and
fourth quarters of last year, patrol ships and frigates at the Navy's
2nd Fleet Command detected only about a third of North Korean submarines
participating in drills.
Shin said while
newly built destroyers have better detected submarines, patrol vessels
are still responsible for guarding the coast. He added the poor performances
by patrol ships leave the Yellow Sea vulnerable for more North Korean
provocations.
"Destroyers
must be deployed near the border islands in the Yellow Sea to prepare
against provocations," Shin said. (Yonhap)
