South Korea’s new President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office in May, has vowed to boost trilateral security cooperation with the United States and Japan to better counter the North’s evolving weapons threats.
The exercises brought together the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, the 9,800-ton guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville, the 6,900-ton Aegis-equipped destroyer USS Barry, South Korea’s 4,400-ton destroyer Munmu the Great and Japan’s 5,100-ton tanker Asahi, among other warships, the three navies said.
The drills came days after a US-based think tank said North Korea may be preparing to launch a new submarine believed to be capable of firing ballistic missiles, citing commercial satellite imagery.
South Korea’s military has also detected signs that the isolated country might be gearing up for an SLBM test, Yonhap news agency reported on Saturday. A military spokesman declined to confirm the report but said it is closely monitoring the North’s submarine bases and activities.
South Korea and its allies are also concerned that the North is about to conduct a nuclear test – which would be the seventh since 2006 and its first since 2017.
South Korean lawmakers briefed by the country’s spy agency said on Wednesday the North has completed preparations for a nuclear test and a possible window for carrying it out could come between Oct 16 and Nov 7.