The United States, South Korea and Japan conducted a joint missile defense exercise on Monday, April 17, 2023, in waters near the Korean Peninsula as they expand military training to counter the growing threats of North Korea’s nuclear-capable missiles.
Last week, North Korea conducted one of its most provocative weapons demonstrations in years by flight-testing for the first time an intercontinental ballistic missile powered by solid propellants, as it pursues a weapon that is more responsive, harder to detect and could directly target the continental United States.
North Korea’s unprecedented run of weapons tests has so far involved more than 100 missiles of various ranges fired into the sea since the start of 2022 as the country attempts to build a viable nuclear arsenal that could threaten its rival neighbors and the United States.
The South Korea-U.S.-Japan training could trigger an aggressive response from North Korea, which condemns the United States’ military drills with its Asian allies. The North has used those drills as a pretext to accelerate its own weapons development, creating a cycle of retaliation that has raised tensions in recent months.
South Korea’s navy disclosed that Monday’s three-way naval drills took place in international waters off the country’s eastern coast and focused on mastering the procedures for detecting, tracking and sharing information on incoming North Korean ballistic missiles. The one-day naval exercise involved an Aegis destroyer from each country.
In a news briefing, Jang Do-young, a Spokesperson of South Korea’s navy, divulged, “The drills’ goal is to improve our response capabilities against ballistic missiles and strengthen our ability to conduct joint operations as North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats continue to escalate.”
Japan’s Joint Staff stressed the need to strengthen trilateral cooperation as the “security environment surrounding Japan increasingly becomes severe” because of North Korean missile activities.
The United States and South Korea also launched drills involving some 110 warplanes, including advanced F-35 fighter jets on Monday, April 17, 2023. It will continue through to April 28, 2023.
The U.S.-South Korean aerial drills are designed to enhance combined airpower execution and train aircrews to successfully respond in combat scenarios involving robust surface-to-air and air-to-air threats.
The training events “reaffirm the U.S.’s ironclad commitment to the ROK,” the U.S. Seventh Air Force said in a statement, using the initials of South Korea’s formal name, the Republic of Korea.
South Korea, Japan Resume Security Meeting
Also on Monday, South Korea and Japan resumed a security meeting of senior diplomats and defense officials following a five-year pause. The meeting is one of many recent events which depict that ties between Seoul and Tokyo are improving in the face of North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats after years of disputes over history and trade.
During Monday’s meeting, South Korea’s Defense Ministry stated that Seoul and Tokyo discussed North Korea’s nuclear program and a trilateral cooperation with the United States.
Monday marks 11 straight days that North Korea has not responded to South Korean checkup calls on a set of cross-border inter-Korean hotlines, South Korean officials announced, raising concerns about potential kinetic provocations.
Communications on those channels are meant to prevent accidental clashes along the rivals’ sea borders.
On Saturday, April 15, 2023, a South Korean naval vessel fired warning shots to repel a North Korean patrol vessel that temporarily crossed the countries’ disputed western sea boundary while chasing a Chinese fishing boat. There were no exchanges of fire between the North and South Korean vessels.
While the South’s military strengthened monitoring and readiness after the intrusion, it did not immediately detect any unusual activity from the North Korean military, Joint Chiefs of Staff Spokesperson, Lee Sung Jun said on Monday.
