South Korea, the United States and Japan began a trilateral missile defense exercise in international waters of the East Sea on Monday, Seoul’s navy said. This comes amid increased efforts to strengthen deterrence against North Korean threats.
The three nations are strengthening security coordination following Pyongyang’s provocative actions, such as the launch of an alleged solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile last Thursday.
According to the military, three Aegis-equipped destroyers, the South ROKS Yulgok Yi I, the US USS Benfold and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s JS Atago, are taking part in the latest exercise.
Trilateral missile defense exercise in international waters
The exercise focused on practicing procedures to detect and track a computer-simulated ballistic missile target and share related information.
A South Korean navy official said: “It was an opportunity to strengthen security cooperation between the South, the US and Japan against the North’s advancing nuclear and missile threats and strengthen our navy’s ability to respond to ballistic missile launches.”
The three countries last held such a three-way missile defense exercise in February. The countries agreed last week to hold regular anti-missile defense and anti-submarine warfare exercises against the North’s threats during a high-level defense dialogue called the Trilateral Defense Talks.
Written by: Vaishali Verma
