US, South Korea, Japan hold trilateral missile drill

ANKARA

South Korea, the US, and Japan held a missile defense exercise in the international waters of the East Sea or the Sea of Japan on Monday, Seoul's Navy said.

The exercise took place on the heels of stepped-up efforts by the three nations to sharpen deterrence against "threats" posed by the latest missile tests from North Korea, including the launch of a purportedly solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile last Thursday, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

The exercise featured three Aegis-equipped destroyers – the South's ROKS Yulgok Yi I, the US' USS Benfold, and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's JS Atago, according to the armed service, the news agency reported.

The trilateral drill, the second in less than two months, coincides with South Korea's top general’s instructions to the frontline troops Monday to prepare for possible "tactical provocations" by the enemy, a thinly-veiled reference to North Korea.

Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum gave the instruction as he visited the 28th Infantry Division's reconnaissance battalion in the border county of Yeoncheon, 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Seoul, according to a statement from the military.

“The enemy will make a provocation at an unpredictable time and method by using our weaknesses,” Kim was quoted as saying.

Tensions in the Korean Peninsula remain high after Pyongyang's recent missile tests.

On Saturday, South Korea’s military fired warning shots to repel a North Korean patrol vessel that temporarily crossed the countries’ disputed western sea boundary while chasing a Chinese fishing boat.

The development coincided with a trilateral military drill involving South Korea, Japan, and the US in the international waters of the Sea of Japan or the East Sea.

The North Korean patrol boat, according to Yonhap news agency, crossed the so-called Northern Limit Line at around 11 a.m. Saturday while pursuing the Chinese boat in waters near South Korea’s Baekryeong island but immediately retreated after a South Korean naval vessel fired warning shots, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday.

However, there was no exchange of fire between the two sides.

South Korea-Japan talks

Amid signs of a sluggish thaw in otherwise frosty diplomatic relations, Seoul and Tokyo held a joint meeting of senior diplomats and defense officials here on Monday, the first such talks since March 2018, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said.

The director-general-level policy consultation meeting came after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed last month to mend ties soured by historical disputes and step up security cooperation in the wake of North Korea's escalating "provocations."

During the session, the two sides are expected to share their assessment of the security situation in Northeast Asia and on the Korean Peninsula, and their respective defense and security policies.