Politics
11:21, 11-Dec-2017
S. Korea, US, Japan holds missile tracking drill near Korean Peninsula
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South Korea, the US and Japan kicked off on Monday two days of missile tracking exercises amid rising tensions in the region over nuclear and missile programs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), local media reported, citing Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
The two-day trilateral military drill was aimed to detect and track ballistic missiles possibly from the DPRK. The exercise does not involve a stage to destroy the detected missile.
Attending the exercise would be one South Korean Aegis destroyer, two US Aegis-equipped ships and one Japanese Aegis destroyer.
File photo shows a US Air Force F-35A Lightning II assigned to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, conducting a training flight with F-16 Fighting Falcons assigned to Kunsan Air Base, South Korea over the city of Gunsan, South Korea. /Reuters Photo
File photo shows a US Air Force F-35A Lightning II assigned to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, conducting a training flight with F-16 Fighting Falcons assigned to Kunsan Air Base, South Korea over the city of Gunsan, South Korea. /Reuters Photo
The battleships would conduct a computer simulation to detect and trail ballistic missiles via respective radars, and exchange intelligence with each other.
The joint drill followed the DPRK's test-launch on Nov. 29 of Hwasong-15, which Pyongyang claimed to have been an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can strike the US mainland.
The trilateral missile-tracking drill was the sixth of its kind, after carrying out the three rounds earlier this year and the two rounds last year.
Source(s): Xinhua News Agency