South Korea, Japan, US hold naval drills amid North Korea threats

Seoul’s navy reported on Friday ( Apr 12 ) that South Korea, Japan, and the United States conducted long-awaited joint naval exercises involving an American aircraft carrier to ensure readiness for nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.

North Korea has been working harder to develop arms, testing solid-fuel hypersonic missiles next year, and leader Kim Jong Un said on Wednesday that now is the time to be more prepared for war than previously, citing an unsteady political position.

The South’s military said in a statement that” the participating causes conducted anti-submarine war drills to improve their reactions to North Korean underwater risks, including from boats and submarine-launched ballistic rockets.”

The weather ship Theodore Roosevelt, the destroyers Howard, Russell, and Daniel Inouye, along with warships from the Eastern neighbors, were the subjects of the two-day drills that were held in foreign waters between South Korea and Japan on Thursday.

The teaching, aimed to move up their combined capability to respond to North Korea’s threats, follows a mega- year combined exercise plan set up after last year’s three- way summit, the North Korean navy said.

The three fleets even conducted search and rescue training to assist ships in distress and maritime surveillance exercises to stop North Korea’s improper transport of weapons of mass destruction.