[ad_1]
The United States, South Korea and Japan launched their first anti-submarine exercise in five years on Sept. 30, a day after North Korea launched its third ballistic missile test this week.
The exercise took place in waters off the east coast of the Korean peninsula and involved the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, the Japanese Asahi-class destroyer, and the South Korean destroyer Munmu Daidai.
The three allies seek to enhance naval interoperability and tactical capabilities to meet all security challenges in the region. statement Issued by the US Indo-Pacific Command.
South Korean Colonel Cho Choon-ho said the exercise was designed to strengthen its combined capabilities against “enemy submarine threats.”Korea warned before Possibility of test launch of submarine-launched ballistic missile by North Korea.
“We will continue these realistic high-intensity exercises so that we can respond decisively and overwhelmingly to any form of provocation,” Cho said.
North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Thursday, hours after US Vice President Kamala Harris ended a visit to South Korea. She also visited the demilitarized zone separating the two countries. .
Ministry of Defense of Japan the aforementioned The first missile flew about 300 kilometers (186 miles) at an altitude of 50 kilometers (31 miles), and the second followed the same trajectory. Both missiles landed on the east coast of North Korea.
It was North Korea’s third missile launch this week, pushing Washington to accept it as a nuclear-weapon state and speeding up its move to expand its arsenal, speeding up a record pace of weapons testing. .
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched nine minutes from an area just north of the capital Pyongyang and flew toward the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan.
Harris had earlier met with President Yoon Suk-yeol at his office in Seoul, where he reaffirmed the US’ commitment to defending South Korea with all its military might in case of war, Yoon’s office said. rice field.
The two leaders expressed concern over the threat of a North Korean nuclear conflict and pledged a stronger response to major North Korean provocations, including nuclear tests, although details were unclear.
Harris said the missile launches this week were a provocation intended to “destabilize the region” and said the United States and South Korea remained committed to North Korea’s “complete denuclearization”.
“I can’t say enough about the US commitment to defending the Republic of Korea as impregnable,” she said.
Washington said it had tried to get North Korea to join the dialogue on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, but the Kim Jong-un regime responded with provocation only.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
follow
Aldgra Fredly is a Malaysia-based freelance writer covering Asia Pacific news for The Epoch Times.
[ad_2]