The two-day joint anti-submarine exercise between the United States, Japan and South Korea on the high seas south of Jeju Island in South Korea ended on Tuesday (April 4, 2023). Composed of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group (NIMCSG) of the United States, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and the South Korean Navy (ROKN), the exercise aims to enhance the United States, Japan and South Korea’s joint response to North Korea’s increasingly escalating submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). Capabilities for underwater threats.
The two-day joint operation includes anti-submarine drills, search and rescue drills and crew boarding drills. The three parties use the disposable underwater self-propelled target of the South Korean and US navies to enhance the tri-military cooperative detection, tracking, intelligence sharing, and sinking capabilities against North Korea’s underwater threats. The three armed forces also practiced the procedures of shipwreck rescue and first aid transfer through joint maritime search and rescue exercises.
This is the first anti-submarine joint exercise conducted by the United States, Japan, and South Korea after six months since September 2022. It is also the fourth time that the three parties have conducted a joint exercise on the high seas near the Korean Peninsula since the Yoon Seok-yue government of South Korea came to power.
The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier (CVN-68), the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Decatur (DDG 73) and USS Wayne Meyer (DDG 108) participated in the joint exercise, and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Sea Fog USS (DD-158), as well as South Korea’s Aegis destroyer Yulgok Lee Er (DDG-992), Daejoyoung (DDH-977), Korean destroyer Choi Young (DDH-981) and comprehensive supply ship Soyang ( AOE-51).
Prior to the trilateral exercise, the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group conducted bilateral exercises with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the South Korean Navy respectively.
Rear Admiral Christopher Sweeney, commander of the US 11th Carrier Strike Group, said: “The United States, Japan, and South Korea are three maritime nations that share a free and open Indo-Pacific by working together to develop mutual trust, partnerships, and capabilities. vision.” He added: “Participation in such exercises is a concrete symbol of the common goal of ensuring regional stability and economic well-being for all countries.”
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the US-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty signed in Washington in 1953. It has been more than 70 years since the United States and Japan signed the earliest security treaty and established a partnership in 1951.
The U.S. Navy regularly conducts such exercises to strengthen ties between allies and create shared interoperability. The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group conducts regular operations with the U.S. Seventh Fleet, the largest forward-deployed fleet of the U.S. Navy, regularly interacting and operating with allies and partners to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific.
North Korea has made frequent military moves in recent days. At the end of March, it carried out successive tests of new underwater nuclear attack unmanned boats, launched multiple strategic cruise missiles simulating nuclear warheads, announced new miniature nuclear warheads, and claimed to produce more weapon-grade nuclear materials to further expand its nuclear arsenal.
On April 3, when asked about the situation on the Korean Peninsula at a regular press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that the US-South Korea military exercises and the US-Japan-South Korea joint exercises followed one after another, and the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was cruising around the peninsula. The main reason for the “high fever” of the situation. China hopes that “all parties will meet each other halfway, resolve their legitimate concerns in a balanced manner, and maintain peace and stability on the peninsula.”