US-Korea-Japan Missile Defense Drill... North Korea Calls It "Gangster Boss" Insult

Missile Defense Drill in the Southern Waters of Jeju
Three Nations' Latest Warships Including ROK Navy's ROKS Yulgok Yi I Participate

On the 29th, the navies of South Korea, the United States, and Japan conducted missile defense exercises to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

The SM-2 missile launch training of the ROKS Yi Sun-sin

The Navy stated, "The navies of South Korea, the United States, and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force conducted maritime missile defense exercises in international waters south of Jeju on the 24th to respond to North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile threats, including the launch of a space launch vehicle claimed by North Korea."

Last month, the three navies also conducted maritime missile defense exercises in international waters of the East Sea, and missile defense exercises were held in February, April, and October of last year. Participating in this exercise were South Korea's Aegis destroyer ROKS Yulgok Yi I, the U.S. Aegis destroyer USS Benfold, and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Aegis destroyer JS Haguro.

The exercise focused on practicing the response procedures of the three countries' warships, including detection, tracking, and information sharing of a hypothetical ballistic missile target, assuming a North Korean ballistic missile provocation scenario. The Navy also reported that they simultaneously checked the sharing system for the real-time sharing of North Korean missile warning data, agreed upon at the South Korea-U.S.-Japan summit, to be operational within this year.

Meanwhile, on the 28th, North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong Un verbally attacked the leaders of South Korea, the United States, and Japan, calling them "gangster bosses." On the occasion of North Korea's Navy Day, Kim visited the naval command and gave a congratulatory speech, stating, "Recently, the gangster bosses of the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea gathered and announced the regularization of various joint military exercises among the three parties and began their implementation," according to the Korean Central News Agency on the 29th. This was Kim's first visit to a naval unit on Navy Day since he came to power in 2012.

Originally, the North Korean military commemorated June 5, 1946, when President Kim Il Sung organized the Coastal Security Force tasked with coastal defense, as "Navy Day." However, since 2014, Navy Day has been celebrated on August 28, 1949, the date when the Coastal Security Force was expanded and strengthened into the regular navy known as the "Korean People's Navy."