South Korea and the United States began their first joint naval exercise near the peninsula in five years on Monday, a day after Pyongyang conducted a ballistic missile launch.
Washington is Seoul’s top security ally, stationing about 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect it from the nuclear-armed North.
South Korea’s hawkish President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office in May, has vowed to step up joint military exercises with the United States after years of failed diplomacy with North Korea under his predecessor.
“This exercise was prepared to demonstrate the strong will of the South Korean-US alliance to respond to the North Korean provocations,” the South Korean Navy said in a statement.
The four-day exercise on South Korea’s east coast will involve more than 20 ships and a number of aircraft, which will conduct drills on naval and submarine warfare, tactical maneuvers and other maritime operations, she added.
“Through this exercise, we will further improve the ability to conduct joint operations between the naval forces of the two countries,” Kwak Kwang-sub, a senior South Korean naval officer, said in the statement.
The exercises come a day after nuclear-armed Pyongyang conducted another ballistic missile launch, the latest of its record-breaking weapons tests this year.
North Korea is subject to several international sanctions for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development programs.
Seoul had also spotted signs the North was preparing to launch a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), the president’s office said Saturday, a weapon Pyongyang last tested in May.
Earlier this month, the North revised its nuclear law, enshrined a “first strike” doctrine and vowed never to give up its nuclear weapons.
The allies have long been conducting joint drills that they claim are purely defensive. However, North Korea sees them as rehearsals for an invasion.
Last month, the United States and South Korea held their largest combined military exercises since 2018 – the resumption of large-scale training sessions that had been scaled back due to Covid-19 and the period of diplomacy with Pyongyang.
