South Korea, Japan and US hold joint drills after N Korea’s missile launch

South Korea, Japan and the US have held a joint naval missile military exercise in the Sea of Japan, in a show of strengthened trilateral military cooperation against what they called North Korea’s escalating nuclear and missile threats.

According to a statement issued by South Korea’s Navy, the drill, the fourth of its kind since President Yoon Suk-Yeol took office, was conducted in international waters between South Korea and Japan on Sunday.

It mobilized destroyers equipped with Aegis radar Systems from the three countries and focused on practicing procedures to detect and track a computer-simulated ballistic missile target and share related information.

Washington and its Asian allies have been working to improve their information-sharing system on North Korea's missiles. South Korea and Japan are independently linked to US radar systems but not to each other.

The drill came just four days after North Korea fired its latest Hwasong-18, which Pyongyang described as the core of its nuclear strike force, off its east coast in what it said was a “strong practical warning” to its adversaries.  

N Korea launched long-range missile days after US recon. flights

North Korea fires a long-range ballistic missile off its east coast.

The South Korean Navy said the joint drill served as an opportunity to enhance military response capabilities against ballistic missiles and improve security cooperation among South Korea, Japan and the US.

"We will effectively respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats with our military's strong response system and the trilateral cooperation," a South Korean Navy officer said.

Meantime, the Maritime Self-defense Force said in a separate statement that the drill was “intended to vigorously promote trilateral cooperation to address regional security challenges amid the increasingly severe security environment surrounding Japan,” specifically highlighting North Korea’s launch last week of an intercontinental ballistic missile-class weapon.

The North's ICBM launch was denounced by the US, South Korea and Japan, though Pyongyang rejected the condemnation, saying it was an exercise of its right to self-defense.

The latest launch followed heated complaints from North Korea in recent days, accusing American spy planes of flying over its exclusive economic zone waters, condemning a recent visit to South Korea by a US nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine and vowing to take steps in reaction.

North Korea has carried out numerous missile tests in response to persisting joint war games by US and South Korean military forces near its territorial waters. This year, Pyongyang launched its first-ever solid-fuel ICBM and tried to put its first reconnaissance satellite into orbit, though the mission ended in failure.

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