SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) – South Korea’s, U.S. and Japanese navies began their first anti-submarine exercise in six months on Monday to improve coordination against a growing North Korean missile threat, the South Korean military said.
The two-day exercise sparked concerns that the country could conduct its first nuclear test since 2017, after North Korea recently unveiled a type of nuclear warhead on the battlefield.
South Korea’s defense ministry said in a statement that naval exercises on the high seas off South Korea’s Jeju island involved the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Nimitz and naval destroyers from South Korea, the United States and Japan.
The exercise was arranged to improve the three countries’ ability to respond to underwater security threats posed by North Korea’s advancing submarine-launched ballistic missiles and other assets, the statement said. A South Korean defense official said her three nations should seek out and track South Korean and US unmanned underwater vehicles disguised as enemy submarines and other assets. North Korea’s submarine-launched missiles pose a serious security threat to the United States and its allies. Over the past year, North Korea has tested advanced underwater ballistic missiles and has been building large submarines, including one nuclear-powered submarine.
At last week’s warhead-related event, Kim also ordered officials to increase bomb fuel production to meet his stated goal of expanding the country’s nuclear arsenal “exponentially.” On Saturday, North Korea-focused website 38 North said the latest commercial satellite imagery of North Korea’s main nuclear facility in Yongbyon showed high levels of activity, including: . B. Continued operation of the 5 megawatt reactor and new construction around the uranium section of the enrichment plant.
Foreign experts debate whether North Korea operates nuclear missiles. But South Korea’s Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup recently told lawmakers that North Korea’s technology to manufacture miniaturized warheads for its advanced short-range missiles had made significant progress. He said it was. North Korea may conduct new missile tests to protest drills between South Korea, the United States and Japan, viewing such drills as a security threat.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Chang said the recent conflict between South Korea and the United States has used “reckless military provocations” that ignored North Korea’s “patience and warnings.”
“We will resolutely respond to and neutralize any kind of provocations by North Korea,” said Major General Kim In-ho, the head of the South Korean military that participated in the trilateral exercises, in a Defense Ministry statement.
In addition to anti-submarine training, the three countries will conduct humanitarian search and rescue operations, including rescuing people who have fallen in the water and treating emergency patients. The defense ministry said in a statement that it would be the first exercise for the three nations in seven years.
