South Korea, the United States and Japan held joint air drills on Monday to strengthen their trilateral security cooperation. It was the first such joint exercise since the inauguration of new South Korean President Lee Jae-myeon earlier this month, Yonhap news agency reported, BTA reports.
Previous exercises between the three countries took place on January 15 and included the participation of two US B-1B strategic bombers.
Today's exercise was held over the waters off the southern island of Jeju, with the participation of two South Korean F-15K fighter jets, six US F-16s and two Japanese F-2 fighter jets, the South Korean Air Force said.
“The exercises were aimed at strengthening security cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan to deter growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, as well as maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region,“ an official statement from the South Korean Air Force said.
Seoul said it plans to continue holding such trilateral exercises regularly, based on the stable alliance with USA.
The event took place just a day after Russia announced that North Korea had committed to sending thousands of military construction workers and sappers to the Kursk region to help with reconstruction efforts, another sign of the deepening military partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang.