(VOVWORLD) - The United States, Japan, and South Korea staged a trilateral missile defense exercise in international waters south of the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday in response to North Korea’s rocket launch last week, officials said.
The exercise took place south of the southern island of Jeju after Pyongyang’s attempt to launch its Chollima-1 rocket was unsuccessful last Thursday, its second failure this year. The latest drills featured three Aegis-equipped destroyers – ROKS Yulgok Yi I, USS Benfold, and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s JS Haguro, according to South Korea’s Navy.
Under the scenario of a ballistic missile launch by North Korea, the exercise focused on practicing procedures to detect and track a computer-simulated target and share related information.
On August 18, President Yoon Suk Yeol, US President Joe Biden, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. They adopted a series of documents that outlined their commitments to enhance security and economic cooperation, such as holding annual trilateral exercises on a regular basis. The three countries last held such a missile defense exercise in July.