South Korea, US, Japan hold defence drills to counter North Korea

SEOUL – South Korea, the United States and Japan staged joint naval missile defence exercises on Monday, in a push to improve security cooperation and respond better to North Korea’s evolving missile threats, Seoul’s navy said.

The drills came days after the three countries agreed at talks in Washington

to conduct regular missile defence and anti-submarine exercises

in their efforts to boost diplomatic and military cooperation.

Tensions have been simmering in recent weeks as the North ramped up military activities,

testing a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile

last Friday that experts say would facilitate missile launches with little warning.

Monday’s drills in international waters between South Korea and Japan brought together South Korea’s 7,600-tonne Aegis destroyer Yulgok Yi I, US guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold, and Japan’s Atago-class destroyer, also equipped with Aegis radar systems.

The effort focuses on mastering response procedures, from detection and tracking to information sharing, by creating a virtual target in a scenario featuring a North Korean ballistic missile provocation, the South Korean navy said.

“It is an opportunity to strengthen trilateral security cooperation against North Korea’s escalating nuclear and missile threats, and solidify our navy’s capability and posture to respond to ballistic missiles,” Captain Kim Ki-young of the South Korean destroyer said.

This would solidify the navy’s capability and posture to respond to ballistic missiles, he added.  

The Japanese defence ministry said the exercises promote trilateral cooperation over regional security challenges, and demonstrate the three countries’ strong commitment to securing a free and open international order based on the rule of law.

Pyongyang has threatened “more practical and offensive” action as South Korean and US forces carried out their annual springtime exercises since March, some of which involved Japan. The North has called the exercises a rehearsal for nuclear war.

The South Korean and US air forces are separately set to begin their drills on Monday for a 12-day run.

Also on Monday, South Korea and Japan resumed their “two-plus-two” talks – which were halted five years ago – between senior diplomatic and security officials in Seoul amid a thaw in relations following a years-long feud over historical wartime issues.

They shared views on North Korea and regional issues, while agreeing to improve understanding of each other’s policies and foster security cooperation in a “forward-looking” way, Seoul’s foreign and defence ministries said in a joint statement after the meeting.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has pledged to move ties with Japan beyond the past, and

visited Tokyo in March – the first official visit to Japan by a South Korean president in 12 years

. REUTERS