Strengthening Joint Military Exercises Among South Korea, the US, and Japan Starting This Month

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] With the defense chiefs of Korea, Japan, and the United States meeting for the first time in 2 years and 7 months to normalize the ‘trilateral joint exercises,’ it is expected that the ‘multinational Rim of the Pacific Exercise’ (RIMPAC) will be conducted starting this month, along with the Korea-US-Japan missile warning exercise (Pacific Dragon) scheduled for the second half of the year.

According to the Ministry of National Defense on the 13th, the RIMPAC exercise will be held near Honolulu, Hawaii, starting on the 29th. In this 17th iteration of the exercise, Korea will dispatch the largest force since its first participation in 1990. About 1,000 personnel will participate, including three warships?the 14,000-ton large transport ship Marado, the Sejong the Great, and the Munmu the Great?one submarine, one maritime patrol aircraft, and one marine company. Japan will also participate with its largest-ever scale, including the light aircraft carrier Izumo, submarines, maritime patrol aircraft, and electronic warfare training aircraft. This is the first time Izumo is participating in RIMPAC. Together with Marado, the largest warships of both the Korean and Japanese navies will be gathered in one place.

Additionally, the Korea-US-Japan missile warning exercise (Pacific Dragon), which has been conducted biennially since 2016, is also expected to take place in the second half of this year. Pacific Dragon is an exercise to detect and track ballistic missiles flying unexpectedly using Korea-US-Japan Aegis ships in response to threats from North Korea and others. Until now, the Pacific Dragon exercise was not publicly disclosed considering the inter-Korean and US reconciliation atmosphere, and there were times when it was not held on schedule.

The resumption of the exercises follows Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop’s recent meeting with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Japanese Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo at the 19th Asia Security Conference (Shangri-La Dialogue), where they agreed to regularize missile response exercises against North Korea.

The Korean and US defense ministers also agreed to work on restarting the Extended Deterrence Strategy Consultation Group (EDSCG), holding the Korea-US Extended Deterrence Means Operation Exercise (TTX), and coordinating timely deployment of US strategic assets. In particular, they plan to seek concrete implementation measures to expand the scale of joint exercises agreed upon at last month’s Korea-US summit, leading to expectations of strengthened joint exercises in the second half of the year.

Meanwhile, Park Jin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who visited the US on the same day for the Korea-US foreign ministers’ meeting, stated on the 12th (local time) regarding North Korea, “I plan to meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss cooperation measures to respond firmly to North Korean provocations.”

Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter if@asiae.co.kr