President Barack Obama ordered his military commanders to coordinate closely with their South Korea counterparts "to ensure readiness and to deter future aggression" by North Korea, the White House said.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters on Monday the joint exercises will be conducted in the "near future." He said the operations will test the nations' ability to defeat submarines and to monitor and prevent illicit activities.

The military exercises would be a decisive display of force after last week's finding by a team of international investigators that North Korea torpedoed a South Korean warship on March 26 that killed 46 South Korean sailors. It was South Korea's worst military disaster since the Korean War.

More than 28,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, an important regional ally. Previously, the Obama administration has been intentionally vague on how it might respond, reflecting U.S. reluctance to stoke tension unnecessarily.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton — in Beijing to win support from China, North Korea's top ally, for diplomatic action — said Monday the Obama administration is striving to avoid a conflict on the Korean peninsula.

"We are working hard to avoid an escalation of belligerence and provocation," Clinton said. "This is a highly precarious situation that the North Koreans have caused in the region." The U.S. will work with other nations to make sure that North Korea feels the consequences of its actions and changes its behavior to avoid "the kind of escalation that would be very regrettable," she said.

[ MSNBC NEWS ]