The exercises, which will involve Aegis destroyers from the three nations, will take place in late June off Hawaii, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said in a text message Monday, according to Bloomberg.
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The US will launch an airplane as a mock-up missile, which all three countries will monitor from ships equipped with an Aegis anti-missile system, Yonhap news agency reported. But the drill will not involve firing an actual missile to practice interception. Headquartered in Hawaii, RIMPAC is described by the U.S. Navy as “the world’s largest worldwide maritime warfare exercise”.
In contrast, South Koreans view Mr Trump’s key rival, Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton, more favourably as they are more familiar with her work as US Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013.
In December 2014, the three countries agreed to a military pact that enabled intelligence sharing on North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Next month’s joint missile defense exercises “signal the seriousness with which all of these countries see the threat from North Korea”, said Thomas Karako at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
China is nervous of any signs that South Korea is surreptitiously joining the US missile defense shield in the region. Notably, current Aegis systems are not created to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles, but may be able to in the future.
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Without offering more details on the hypothetical proposal it expects from Seoul, Pyongyang urged South Korea not to link North Korea’s nuclear programme with bilateral relations. In particular, the two countries last month criticized an American proposal to deploy the land-based Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, in South Korea. If Ri Su Yong’s promotion is correct, he replaces Kang Sok Ju, a foreign policy specialist who negotiated a deal with the U.S.in 1994 to freeze and ultimately dismantle North Korea’s nuclear reactor in exchange for economic aid.
