US, Japan, South Korea hold anti-missile drills with an eye on China, Pyongyang

South Korea’s new president has moved to step up joint exercises with the US as his government takes a tougher line with China and the North
Washington, Tokyo and Seoul agreed at a June meeting in Singapore to conduct the drills, to show their willingness to work together

United States

Bloomberg

Published: 1:03pm, 16 Aug 2022

Why you can trust SCMP

The United States and its top two Asian allies announced they had conducted a joint missile defence exercise off Hawaii, raising the profile of military exercises that show their willingness to work together in the face of threats posed by North Korea and China.

The anti-missile drills took place from August 8 to Sunday at the same time as the multinational Pacific Dragon exercise, the Department of Defence said in a statement released on Tuesday. The three countries agreed at a ministerial meeting in Singapore in June to conduct the drills, the department said.

While the drills have been held every two years since 2012, they weren’t publicised in 2018 or 2020 as tensions flared between Tokyo and Seoul. Then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in was also wary of making public military manoeuvres that could sour ties with China or his rapprochement with North Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shakes hands with then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in at a meeting in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) in 2018. Photo: Korea Summit Press Pool via AP

President Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative who replaced Moon in May, has moved to step up joint exercises with the US as his government takes a tougher line with China and the North. The Biden administration has tried to bolster the alliance with Japan and South Korea as it seeks to build a united front on issues ranging from security to supply chains for semiconductors.

“The purpose of this exercise is to strengthen the ability to respond against ballistic missiles and improve the ability to conduct joint operations,” South Korea’s defence ministry said in a statement on Tuesday about the drills. Moon’s government in June said the Pacific Dragon drills would be held, using destroyers with Aegis missile-defence systems to respond to threats from North Korea.

Over the past few years, Kim Jong-un’s regime has modernised its missile arsenal, testing new missiles that are quick to deploy, manoeuvrable in flight and designed to evade US-operated defence shields in the region. The US, Japan and South Korea have all warned that North Korea is also readying to conduct its first nuclear test since 2017.

As North Korea’s Kim Jong-un threatens Asia with nuclear force, analysts urge caution

China’s firing of ballistic missiles that Japan said landed in its exclusive economic zone close to Taiwan earlier this month heightened tensions between Tokyo and Beijing, which often spar over human rights and historical grievances. China’s live-fire exercises were a show of anger over US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and new Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada spoke by phone after the drills, and agreed on the importance of cooperation with South Korea in dealing with the North Korean situation, Japan’s Defence Ministry said.

Yoon has also tried to patch things up with Tokyo. He used a speech marking the end of World War II on Monday to underscore his plan to “swiftly and properly improve” ties with Tokyo amid recriminations over Japan’s 1910-45 colonisation of the Korean peninsula and whether it has sufficiently compensated victims.

Meanwhile, two Japanese cabinet ministers on Monday visited Yasukuni Shrine, a site where 14 Class-A war criminals are honoured alongside other war dead. The shrine is seen by many across Asia as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism, with South Korea’s Foreign Ministry expressing “deep disappointment” over the visits.

A missile is fired during joint US-Korea training drills at an undisclosed location in South Korea in May. Photo: South Korea Defence Ministry via AP

Also on Tuesday, the South’s military announced it would begin the biggest combined military training in years with the US next week under the name of Ulchi Freedom Shield. The drills, from August 22 to September 1, will include field exercises involving aircraft, warships, tanks and potentially tens of thousands of troops. Neither Seoul’s Defence Ministry nor its Joint Chiefs of Staff commented on the exact number that would be involved.

While the US and South Korea describe their exercises as defensive, Ulchi Freedom Shield will almost surely draw an angry reaction from North Korea, which describes all allied training exercises as invasion rehearsals and has used them to justify its nuclear weapons and missiles development.

A spokesman for South Korea’s Defence Ministry said that the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise “normalises the South Korea-US combined exercises and field training, [contributing] to the rebuilding of the South Korea-US alliance and the combined defence posture.”

South Korea turns to US amid warnings of Kim Jong-un’s nuclear test plan

Before they were shelved or downsized in recent years to create space for diplomacy with Pyongyang and because of Covid-19 concerns, the US and South Korea held major joint exercises every spring and summer in the East Asian nation.

The spring ones had been highlighted by live-fire drills involving a broad range of land, air and sea assets and usually involved around 10,000 American and 200,000 Korean troops.

Additional reporting by Associated Press