Amidst mounting tensions in the Korean region and heightened fears that armed conflict may break out in the immediate future, Japanese assets have joined the current US deployment to carry out joint exercises.
Two Atago-class guided-missile destroyers from the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (MSDF), the JS Ashigara and the JS Samidare, have joined the strike group led by the carrier Carl Vinson (CVN-70), in a clear show of force to the North Korean regime.
Several Japanese aircraft also participated in the wargames, which focused on combined air training and sharing combat intelligence.
The maritime maneouvers follow land-based exercise conducted by US and South Korean forces, which itself followed an artillery-firing drill on the North Korean side.
Kim Jong-Un’s regime has warned of ‘dire consequences’ if the US insists in provoking it with its military presence in the region.