Missile defence drills in East Sea held by South Korea, USA and Japan today

22 February 2023, Seoul: Trilateral defence exercises were held by the United States, Japan and South Korea this morning in the international waters of the East Sea amid heightened tensions caused by North Korea’s recent missile launches.

The exercise, which lasted from 9 am for five hours local time was focused on practising procedures in detecting, tracking and intercepting computer-simulated targets, according to Yonhap from the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in a press release. South Korea is eight hours ahead of Spain in current world time zones.

Three ocean-going destroyers were mobilised in waters east of South Korea’s Ulleung Island to carry out the drill. The JCS said that after North Korean launches of long- and short-range ballistic missiles within the past week the allies will ensure a firm readiness posture based on improved security ties between South Korea, Japan and Washington.

This is the first drill since October last year. Today also the top Navy officers from the three countries met to discuss cooperation to counter North Korean missile threats. They affirmed their commitment to three-way training and sharing of information on maritime operations, the Navy said.

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