The (Bloomberg) By announcing they had completed a combined missile defense exercise near Hawaii, the US and its two principal Asian allies increased the visibility of drills demonstrating their willingness to cooperate in the face of threats from China and North Korea.The Department of Defense announced in a statement posted on Tuesday, Asia time, that the anti-missile exercise took place from August 8 to 14 concurrently with the international Pacific Dragon exercise. At a ministerial gathering in Singapore in June, the three nations decided to carry out the exercise, according to the department.
The exercises have been conducted every two years since 2012, but in 2018 and 2020, when tensions between Tokyo and Seoul rose, they were not made public. Moon Jae-in, the president of South Korea at the time, was also hesitant of conducting military exercises in public that would damage his relations with China or his efforts to normalize relations with North Korea.
As his administration adopts a harder stance toward China and the North, President Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative who took over for Moon in May, has pushed to increase joint drills with the US. As it works to forge a unified front on problems ranging from security to semiconductor supply chains, the Biden administration has attempted to strengthen the alliance with Japan and South Korea.
The drills' aim, according to a statement from South Korea's defense ministry, is to "strengthen the ability to respond against ballistic missiles and increase the ability to execute joint operations." In June, the government of Moon said that the Pacific Dragon exercises, which would employ destroyers equipped with Aegis missile-defense systems to counter North Korean threats, would take place.The Kim Jong Un dictatorship has been developing new missiles that are rapid to launch, agile in flight, and made to bypass US-operated defense shields in the area during the past few years. North Korea is preparing to perform its first nuclear test since 2017, according to warnings from the US, Japan, and South Korea.
The fire of ballistic missiles by China earlier this month, which Japan claimed had fallen in its exclusive economic zone near Taiwan, increased tensions between Tokyo and Beijing, which frequently argue about human rights and historical grievances. China's live-fire drills were a protest against Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, visiting Taipei.
After the drills, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the newly appointed Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada spoke by phone and agreed on the significance of working with South Korea to address the North Korean crisis, according to Japan's Defense Ministry.
Yoon has also made an effort to mend fences with Tokyo. He emphasized his desire to "swiftly and correctly restore" relations with Tokyo at a speech commemorating the conclusion of World War II on Monday, amid criticism of Japan's 1910–1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula and questions over whether it has adequately paid victims.
Two Japanese cabinet members went to Yasukuni Shrine on Monday, where 14 Class-A war criminals and other war dead are commemorated. Many people in Asia view the shrine as a reminder of Japan's historical militarism; in response, South Korea's foreign ministry expressed "great sadness" over the visits.
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