Seoul, Washington and Tokyo today conducted a missile defense drill in the East Sea that separates the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago. The South Korean and US navies have deployed the Aegis Yulgok Yi Yi destroyers and the USS Benfold respectively. For the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, the JS Atago participated.
The maneuver consisted of a scenario of a ballistic missile launch from Pyongyang. The three countries practiced the response procedure, through detection, virtual target tracing and data sharing. This trilateral training was organized following the recent provocation by North Korea. On April 13, the latter launched the “Hwasong-18”, a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The South Korean navy said the exercise will take security collaboration between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo up a notch and strengthen its response posture for the operation.
As a reminder, two weeks ago, the three nations carried out the anti-submarine warfare exercise for two days. And two months ago, they already trained together to defend themselves from missiles. More recently, namely last Friday, the armies of South Korea and the United States carried out a joint aerial maneuver over the Korean peninsula, mobilizing the American strategic bomber B-52.
Source: KBS News
