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| South Korea and US Exercise War with USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Fleet |
Seoul - South Korea and the United States began joint war games involving the aircraft carrier Washington on Friday (10/7/2022). The joint maneuvers began a day after they deployed dozens of fighter jets in reaction to bombing drills by North Korean aircraft.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Seoul and Washington's joint maritime drills would take place in waters off South Korea's east coast on October 7-8.
Earlier, North Korea also fired a pair of ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Thursday, and then flew 12 warplanes near the border between the two Koreas. "We will continue to strengthen our operational capabilities and readiness to respond to any provocation by North Korea through joint exercises with the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group fleet," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
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The US Carrier Strike Group has participated in a trilateral missile defense exercise with warships from Japan and South Korea this week. It was triggered by North Korea's test firing of a ballistic missile into Japanese territory on Tuesday.
Senior defense officials from Japan, South Korea and the United States discussed the latest developments in a phone call on Friday. According to South Korea's Ministry of Defense, the three countries condemned North Korea's missile launch and agreed that recent trilateral maritime drills have increased their ability to respond to North Korea.
A rare bombing drill was carried out by at least eight North Korean warplanes and four bombers on Thursday, prompting South Korea to deploy 30 warplanes. South Korean warplanes overran every side of the heavily fortified border amid rising tensions over a series of missile tests by Pyongyang.
On Thursday, North Korea condemned the United States for repositioning an aircraft carrier near the Korean Peninsula, saying it posed a serious threat to the stability of the situation.
In a statement, North Korea's Foreign Ministry also criticized Washington for holding a UN Security Council meeting in response to Pyongyang's missile test, saying it was a "fair countermeasure" against joint US-South Korean drills.