The United States and Japan have been conducting a joint naval exercise involving a U.S. aircraft carrier and vessels of Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force in the Sea of Japan, the U.S. 7th Fleet said Wednesday, amid North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats.
The strike group of the nuclear-powered carrier, the Abraham Lincoln, started the exercise on Friday last week with MSDF, according to the U.S. 7th Fleet. It is the first deployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier to the waters off the Korean Peninsula since November 2017, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.
The move came amid growing speculation that Pyongyang may conduct a nuclear test or fire an intercontinental ballistic missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean in connection with the 110th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, its founder and the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un, on Friday.
From Japan, the Kongou, a destroyer equipped with the Aegis air defense system, and the Inazuma, another destroyer, joined a training held on Tuesday, according to the Self-Defense Forces, which said in a Twitter post the training is part of efforts to "defend our nation and to secure peace and stability of this region from peace time."
This is our recent effort to deepen 🇯🇵🇺🇸 close #Alliance to defend our nation and to secure peace and stability of this region from peace time. https://t.co/PjcYuGwB2T
— Japan Ministry of Defense/Self-Defense Forces (@ModJapan_en) April 13, 2022
The Air Self-Defense Force said four of its F-2 fighter jets were dispatched to the Tuesday drill.
After conducting a flurry of ballistic missile firing since the beginning of this year, North Korea on March 24 made the first launch of an ICBM since November 2017, marking an end to its self-imposed moratorium on ICBM tests since April 2018.
The latest missile was assessed as capable of traveling over 15,000 kilometers and reaching the whole of the U.S. mainland if following a normal trajectory, according to Japan's Defense Ministry.
Pyongyang suggested in January that it might resume nuclear and ICBM tests. It last conducted a nuclear test in September 2017.
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