A British warship "changed its deployment" and arrived in Japan on Wednesday to participate in efforts to police U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programmes.
The Royal Navy frigate HMS Sutherland arrived at Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, which hosts the headquarters of the Maritime Defence Force fleet and home port of the U.S. 7th Fleet's carrier strike group.
It "will be contributing to the international efforts to monitor prohibited trade at sea by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which provides a major source of funding for its illegal nuclear programme," the Ministry of Defense said in a statement, referring to North Korea by its official name.