The
three nations staged exercises in international waters off South
Korea's southern Jeju island to improve their ability to detect
and track targets, and share information in the event of
provocation by Pyongyang, South Korea's military said.
The drills come as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called
for "radically" modernising the weapons and equipment of its
naval forces, criticising an increased presence of U.S.
strategic assets in the region.
In a speech to mark Navy Day, Kim said the "gang bosses" of the
United States, Japan and South Korea announced regular joint
military exercises, news agency KCNA reported, apparently
referring to their Aug. 18 summit at Camp David, Maryland.
"Owing to the reckless confrontational moves of the U.S. and
other hostile forces, the waters off the Korean Peninsula have
been reduced into the world's biggest war hardware concentration
spot, the most unstable waters with the danger of a nuclear
war," Kim was quoted by KCNA as saying.
In the first standalone meeting between the leaders of the U.S.,
South Korea and Japan, the three agreed to deepen military and
economic cooperation as they seek to project unity in the face
of China's growing power and the North's nuclear threats.
South Korea and the United States last week began the Ulchi
Freedom Shield summer exercises, designed to enhance their joint
responses to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
Pyongyang has long denounced the drills as a rehearsal for war.
As part of the exercises, the allies' special operations troops
practiced infiltrating an enemy's coastline from the sea, riding
rubber boats and emerging from the waves with diving gear and
guns.
"The prevailing situation requires our navy to put all its
efforts into rounding off the war readiness to maintain the
constant combat alertness," Kim said, adding the naval forces
would become part of the "state nuclear deterrence carrying out
the strategic duty".
(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi; Editing by Chris Reese, Grant
McCool and Michael Perry)
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