A joint ballistic missile defence exercise between South Korea, the US, and Japan will begin this week in the waters off Hawaii as part of increased security cooperation against North Korea‘s growing military threats, a media outlet claimed. According to the sources, the biannual Pacific Dragon drill will take place. Australia and Canada will also take part in the exercise in the edition of 2022, in addition to the three other nations.
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KEY POINTS:
- The exercise, which involves the mobilisation of eight warships and two planes, aims to improve coordination between the participating nations in the identification, tracking, and reporting of ballistic missile targets.
- The exercise was planned after the defence chiefs of South Korea, the United States, and Japan decided to improve their security coordination during their trilateral meeting on June 11 in Singapore, which was held in conjunction with the annual Shangri-La Dialogue.
- The South Korea-US-Japan missile warning and ballistic missile search and tracking exercises will go forward, the three parties decided at the meeting.
- The trainings had been going on quietly since 2018 as part of initiatives to promote diplomacy with North Korea.
- Concerns that the North would undertake what would be its seventh nuclear test or other provocative actions to ‘ratchet up tensions’ have led to the three countries to recently be seen uniting.