TOKYO, Nov 13 (KUNA) -- Japan, the US and South Korea on Wednesday kicked off their second trilateral joint exercise across multiple domains, including land, sea, air and cyber, the Japanese Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
The three-day drill in international waters, called Freedom Edge, "continues to demonstrate defensive posture and unbreakable will of Japan, the ROK (South Korea), and the US to promote trilateral multi-domain interoperability and protect freedom for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, including the Korean Peninsula," the JCS said in a press release.
Warships and aircraft from the three countries are participating in the exercise, including the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's destroyer Haguro, US Navy's aircraft carrier USS George Washington and South Korea's destroyer Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong, as well as fighter jets from the three sides, according to the JCS.
"This iteration demonstrates state-of-the-art air defense capabilities with the integration of 5th generation fighters into a sophisticated multi-domain defense infrastructure," it said.
The implementation of the trilateral exercise was agreed by then Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during their Camp David summit August last year as part of their joint efforts to respond to increasing concerns over North Korean military threats.
The joint exercise, following the first one in June, operates in accordance with the Memorandum of Cooperation on the Trilateral Security Cooperation Framework signed by the trilateral defense ministers in July, the JCS said.
The drill comes as North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan on Oct. 31, which traveled about 1,000 km at a maximum altitude of 7,700 km and flew for 86 minutes. (end) mk.mt