SEOUL, South Korea—In response to escalating North Korean nuclear threats, the South Korean, US, and Japanese forces conducted their first-ever trilateral aviation exercise on Sunday, according to South Korea's air force.
The training near the Korean Peninsula was undertaken to put into action the three nations' prior agreement to improve military cooperation and combined reaction capabilities against North Korean threats, according to a statement from the air force.
According to the statement, the rehearsal included a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber from the United States as well as fighter fighters from South Korea and Japan.
South Korea and Japan are both important US allies in Asia, each hosting around 80,000 American soldiers.
The three nations have done trilateral maritime drills on occasion, such as anti-submarine or missile defense exercises, but this was the first time they conducted a trilateral aerial drill.
Expanding military training with Japan is a difficult topic in South Korea, where many people still hold grudges about Japan's cruel colonial reign over the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. However, the North's advanced nuclear program has prompted South Korea's conservative president, Yoon Suk Yeol, to move past historical conflicts with Japan and strengthen trilateral security cooperation with the United States and Japan.
Yoon, US President Joe Biden, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met in Camp David in August for their first stand-alone trilateral summit, agreeing to strengthen defense cooperation in response to North Korea's nuclear threats. The three presidents agreed to perform yearly trilateral drills and to begin exchanging real-time missile warning data on North Korea by the end of the year.
The practice on Sunday might elicit a vehement response from North Korea, which has historically resented US training exercises with South Korea, labeling them an invasion rehearsal and responding with missile testing. The North denounced the Camp David deal, accusing the leaders of the United States, South Korea, and Japan of preparing nuclear war provocations on the Korean Peninsula. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un referred to Yoon, Biden, and Kishida as "the gang bosses" of the three nations.
Concerns over North Korea's nuclear program have grown since the country passed legislation authorizing the use of nuclear weapons in self-defense last year and has since publicly threatened to use them in prospective confrontations with the United States and South Korea.
