The exercise is scheduled to take place in international waters off the southern island of Jeju in South Korea, and will involve a US aircraft carrier group led by the USS Nimitz, which arrived in the southeastern city of Busan last week.
The trilateral drills come as North Korea last week unveiled new, smaller nuclear warheads, vowed to produce more weapons-grade nuclear material to bolster its arsenal, and boasted of what it said was a drone capable of underwater nuclear attack.
According to the South Korean ministry, the exercises that will take place this week will use a mobile anti-submarine warfare training target to improve the capabilities needed to detect, track and destroy North Korean underwater threats.
The three countries last held a trilateral anti-submarine exercise in September, which was the first time in five years, amid tension over North Korea’s unprecedented number of missile tests.
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