TOKYO (Kyodo) – Japan held joint naval exercises with the United States and South Korea on Wednesday, following North Korea’s latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile late last week, the defense ministry said.
The destroyer Atago of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is equipped with the Aegis missile interception system, and Aegis ships from the United States and South Korea also participated in the exercise, which was conducted in the Sea of Japan.
The destroyers were shared on the assumption that other countries, such as North Korea, would launch ballistic missiles and conduct other military activities, the ministry said.
North Korea recently resumed firing provocative missiles into the Sea of Japan in protest of joint defense exercises between the United States and its East Asian allies.
On Saturday, Pyongyang launched an Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, which is believed to be capable of reaching anywhere in the continental United States, on a high-altitude ballistic trajectory. On Sunday, the United States held separate air drills with Tokyo and Seoul.
The missile appeared to have fallen into Japan’s exclusive economic zone outside northern territory, but it traveled more than 14,000 kilometers on a normal trajectory.
North Korea also fired two ballistic missiles Monday morning that appeared to land outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, warning of more launches over the Japanese archipelago.
