Japan, US and South Korea to conduct missile detection drills

Japan will hold a drill with the US and South Korea this week to practise jointly detecting airborne missiles, officials said yesterday amid rising security threats from North Korea

Japan will hold a drill with the US and South Korea this week to practise jointly detecting airborne missiles, officials said yesterday amid rising security threats from North Korea.

The announcement of the joint exercise comes less than two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a ballistic missile. File pic

The announcement of the joint exercise, a sixth such drill since 2016, comes less than two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a ballistic missile, which dropped into the sea inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone in late November. The drill will be held in waters near Japan today and tomorrow, Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said as he visited a garrison in northern Japan.

It is aimed at "practising tracking an object and sharing information on it among the three countries," said a defence official, adding, "It will translate into a measure against ballistic missiles." A senior UN envoy warned on Saturday that there was a grave risk that a miscalculation could trigger conflict with North Korea as he urged Pyongyang to keep communication channels open after a rare visit to the reclusive state.

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