INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The United States, South Korea and Japan participated in a ballistic missile defense exercise off Hawaii&s coast last week, the Pentagon
said on Tuesday, reviving combined drills with an eye on North Korea as well as China.It was the first time the three countries have held
such drills since 2017, after relations between Seoul and Tokyo hit their lowest in years in 2019 amid renewed historical disputes dating to
Japan&s 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean Peninsula, Reuters reported.South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative who took office
in May, has vowed to improve relations with Japan and deepen the United States alliance to better deter North Korea, including by expanding
or resuming joint drills.The missile warning and ballistic missile search and tracking exercise took place Aug
8-14 during the multinational Pacific Dragon drills, and demonstrated the three countries& commitment to respond to challenges posed by
North Korea, protect shared security and bolster the rules-based international order, the Pentagon said in a statement.The participants
shared tactical data link information in accordance with a trilateral information sharing agreement, the statement said.United States -led
joint missile defence measures have been a sore point with China, which retaliated economically against South Korea&s 2016 decision to host
a United States military Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery.Beijing says the THAAD radar can penetrate its territory and
has called on Yoon to honour assurances made by his predecessor to not to increase THAAD deployments, participate in a United States -led
global missile shield or create a trilateral military alliance involving Japan.Yoon has said those do not represent formal agreements and
that Seoul is not bound by them.South Korea&s ministry of defense also confirmed on Tuesday that its troops would resume long-suspended live
field training during their joint military drills with the United States to be held from Aug
1.The two sides have scaled back combined military drills in recent years due to COVID-19 and efforts to lower tensions with the North,
which has accused the exercises of being a rehearsal for invasion.The post US, South Korea, Japan hold missile defense exercise with eye on
North Korea, China first appeared on Ariana News.
