Joint exercises of the navies of South Korea, the United States and Japan

US Navy Exercises/Photo Handout/AFP/Profimedia

The navies of South Korea, the United States and Japan today conducted trilateral anti-submarine exercises for the first time in five years. This is happening at the height of tensions due to a series of North Korean missile tests, according to some of the world's media.

The exercises were held in international waters near the east coast of the Korean peninsula. They come a day after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the sea near its east coast, and US Vice President Kamala Harris visited Seoul and the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas.

Yesterday's test was North Korea's third such launch in five days. This year, the country fired an unprecedented number of missiles, the media reports.

"The exercises are designed to improve the ability to respond to increasing submarine threats from North Korea, including its submarine-launched ballistic missiles at a time when it poses a nuclear and missile threat due to a series of ballistic missile tests," it said. South Korean Navy statement.

The US and Japanese navies said the drills were expected to promote a "free and open Indo-Pacific", amid tensions over China's actions in the Taiwan Strait.

Anti-submarine drills have not been conducted since 2017 as the former South Korean government sought to improve inter-Korean relations and facilitate denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington, which have been stalled since 2019.

New South Korean President Yun Suk-yeol, who took office in May, has pledged to increase trilateral security cooperation with the United States and Japan in order to counter North Korea's rising threats.

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