The Japanese, South Korean and U.S. navies conducted a rare joint exercise Wednesday, Tokyo announced, just days after North Korea fired a powerful long-range missile into Japan’s exclusive economic zone off Hokkaido.
A Maritime Self-Defense Force Aegis destroyer joined U.S. and South Korean navy destroyers in the Sea of Japan for the exercises intended to promote growing trilateral cooperation between the three countries amid growing regional security challenges, Japan’s Joint Staff said in a statement.
Wednesday’s joint drill, which focused on ballistic missile information-sharing, was seen as highlighting unity among the three countries — despite Tokyo’s frosty ties with Seoul — after nuclear-armed North Korea fired what the Japanese Defense Ministry said was a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile into waters some 200 kilometers off Hokkaido on Saturday. It was also the the first trilateral naval exercises since October.