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The United States, South Korea and Japan will conduct a joint missile defense exercise Monday in waters near the Korean Peninsula as they expand military training to counter the growing threats of North Korea’s nuclear-capable missiles, the South Korean navy said.
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’s 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 exercises Monday may trigger a belligerent response from North Korea, which condemns the United States’ military drills with its Asian allies as invasion rehearsals. The North has used those drills as a pretext to accelerate its own weapons development, creating a cycle of tit-for-tat that has raised tensions in recent months.
South Korea’s navy said Monday’s three-way naval drills will take place in international waters off the country’s eastern coast and will be focused on mastering the procedures for detecting, tracking and sharing information on incoming North Korean ballistic missiles. The naval exercise involves an Aegis destroyer from each country and comes as the United States and South Korea also launch separate aerial drills involving some 110 warplanes, including advanced F-35 fighter jets.
“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,” Jang Do-young, a spokesperson of South Korea’s navy, said in a news briefing.
