Japan, S Korea, US conduct drill amid tension with N Korea

Japan, South Korea and the United States have conducted a joint missile defense exercise to counter North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal.

Last week, North Korea held one of its most provocative weapons demonstrations in years by conducting its first flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) powered by solid fuel. It is considered a more mobile, harder-to-detect weapon and could target the US mainland directly.

The South Korean navy said Monday’s three-way exercises took place in international waters off the country’s east coast and aimed at mastering procedures for detecting, tracking and sharing information about incoming North Korean ballistic missiles. The one-day naval exercise involved an Aegis destroyer from each country.

“The purpose of the exercises is to enhance our ballistic missile response capabilities and strengthen our ability to conduct joint operations as North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats continue to escalate,” said Jang Do-young, a spokesman for the South. Korean Navy, during a news report. briefing.

South Korea and the US also launched separate bilateral exercises on Monday involving some 110 combat aircraft, including advanced F-35 fighter jets, which will continue through April 28.

The two sets of exercises could provoke a belligerent response from Pyongyang, which sees the US military exercises with its Asian allies as invasion rehearsals. North Korea has used such exercises as a pretext to accelerate its own weapons development, creating a tit-for-tat cycle that has fueled tensions in recent months.

Later on Monday, Ri Pyong Chol, a North Korean army marshal and close associate of leader Kim Jong Un, warned that the US must “immediately cease its political and military provocations”.

“If the US persists in endangering the security environment on the Korean peninsula, despite repeated warnings from [North Korea]the latter will take the necessary measures to expose the former to a clearer security crisis and insurmountable threats,” Ri said in a statement issued by state media.

Without mentioning the exercises that began Monday, Ri accused the US and South Korea of ​​organizing a series of large-scale joint military exercises simulating a preemptive nuclear strike and all-out war against North Korea.

He also criticized the US for calling for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss North Korea’s launch of the solid-fuel ICBM, saying his country was exercising its right of self-defense.

Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korea from engaging in ballistic activities. But the council has failed to impose new sanctions on North Korea, despite the series of ballistic missile tests that began early last year. China and Russia, both of which have veto power, have opposed the sanctions.

North Korea’s unprecedented array of weapons tests has so far seen more than 100 missiles of varying ranges fired into the sea since early 2022 as it attempts to build a nuclear arsenal that could threaten its neighbors and the US.

Experts say Kim wants to pressure the US to accept North Korea as a legitimate nuclear power and hopes to negotiate a relaxation of sanctions from a position of strength.

South Korea and the US conducted their largest field exercises in years in March and also held separate naval and air exercises involving a carrier battlegroup and nuclear-armed B-52 bombers.

North Korea’s growing nuclear threat has also led South Korea and Japan to strengthen their security cooperation and restore ties strained by history and trade disputes.

On Monday, South Korea and Japan held their first security meeting of senior diplomats and defense officials after a five-year hiatus. During the meeting, Seoul and Tokyo discussed North Korea’s nuclear program and trilateral cooperation with the US, Seoul’s defense ministry said.

In a statement, Japan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff stressed the need to strengthen trilateral cooperation as the “security environment around Japan continues to tighten” due to Pyongyang’s missile activities.

For the 11th consecutive day on Monday, North Korea failed to respond to South Korean control calls on a series of cross-border inter-Korean hotlines, South Korean officials said, raising concerns about possible incidents. Communication on those channels is intended to prevent accidental collisions along the rivals’ maritime borders or to organize talks.

A South Korean naval vessel fired warning shots on Saturday to ward off a North Korean patrol vessel that temporarily crossed the country’s disputed western maritime border while pursuing a Chinese fishing boat.

Such problems have been exacerbated by pandemic border restrictions that have disrupted trade with China, its main ally and economic lifeline.

Desperate for tangible economic results, Kim’s government has prioritized construction and agricultural projects, which rely less on foreign trade. Meanwhile, industrial production continues to be decimated by international sanctions and COVID-related border closures.

The North’s official Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Monday that Kim attended an event last weekend to celebrate the construction of 10,000 new homes in a district of Pyongyang. The project is part of wider plans to deliver 50,000 new homes to the capital under a five-year national development plan that runs until 2025.

Speaking at Sunday’s event, Kim called the housing project a “long-held plan” to provide his people with “more stable and civilized living conditions,” according to the KCNA.

North Korea has a serious shortage of quality housing that has worsened over decades of economic decline. But living conditions are much better in Pyongyang, where Kim has pushed massive development projects that have improved housing for elites.