To counter missile threats from North Korea, Japan, South Korea, and the United States have launched a 2-day tri-party drill over the Korean Peninsula to practice the cross-navy capabilities in detecting and tracking any potential missile threat. According to South Korea’s Joint Chief of Staff, the drill are being conducted to counter threats posed by missiles of North Korea.

According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, the drills are being led by the American Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Stethem, Japanese Kongō-class guided missile destroyer JDS Kirishima and South Korean Sejong Great-class destroyer which is all equipped with Aegis Combat System. Aegis Combat System is a missile defence system. However, actual missiles will not be involved in the drill but will conduct computer simulations.

On Monday US Secretary of Defence James Mattis, Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera and South Korean Minister of National Defense Song Young-moo held trilateral talks on the sidelines of an ASEAN security forum and vowed to step up drills over the Korean Peninsula despite calls by Pyongyang to stop these provocative drills. Russia and China have been pushing for a resolution that calls for an end of such drills in exchange for an end to North Korea’s missile testing.