US joins South Korea and Japan for naval drills off Korean peninsula

The US naval forces have held a joint manoeuvre with the navies of South Korea and Japan to deter North Korea, South Korea's navy announced.

The two-day training exercise involving a US aircraft carrier and destroyers from the three countries took place from Thursday to Friday in international waters south of the Korean peninsula, the navy said.

The goal is to improve their joint response capabilities in view of growing threats from North Korea's missiles and nuclear weapons.

Part of the exercises were also aimed at anti-submarine defence. The three allies also consider ballistic missiles that can be launched from North Korean submarines among the threats.

Since the beginning of 2022, the communist leadership in Pyongyang has significantly increased the scope of its ballistic missile tests in violation of UN resolutions.

North Korea is prohibited by UN resolutions from launching or even testing ballistic missiles of any range. These are usually surface-to-surface missiles that can also be equipped with a nuclear warhead.

The US has stepped up its military cooperation with both South Korea and Japan.

The latest naval exercises also reportedly followed a multi-year trilateral training plan.

The plans are based on an agreement reached last year when the leaders of the three countries met for a summit in the US.