<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">South Korea, the United States and Japan concluded a joint maritime drill on Tuesday that simulated intercepting North Korean smuggling vessels, Seoul's navy said.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The two-day exercise was the first of its kind in seven years, as the three countries ramp up cooperation in the face of threats from Pyongyang.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was aimed at enhancing their "deterrence and response against North Korea's recently advancing nuclear and missile threats", the navy said in a statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It added that the drill was a "follow-up" to an agreement made at an August summit aimed at presenting a unified front to an increasingly belligerent North Korea, the navy said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Taking part in the exercises off the waters of Jeju island were South Korea's Aegis-equipped destroyer Yulgok Yi I, the US aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and Japan's JS Hyuga destroyer, among other ships.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The nuclear-powered US carrier and other ships from its naval strike group will make a five-day visit to the southern port city of Busan later this week, the defence ministry said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Faced with a record-breaking series of North Korean missile launches, the conservative government of President Yoon Suk Yeol has made a concerted effort to improve historically strained ties with Japan, the country's former colonial ruler.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In August, Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took part in a three-way summit hosted by US President Joe Biden at Camp David, agreeing to a multi-year plan of regular joint exercises.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The leaders also agreed to share real-time data on North Korea.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Camp David meeting marked the first time the three leaders had met for a standalone summit, rather than on the sidelines of a larger event.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was quick to slam the plans for trilateral drills, saying the countries' "gang bosses" had made the waters around the Korean peninsula "the most unstable waters with the danger of a nuclear war".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pyongyang has pledged to launch a military spy satellite into orbit this month after two earlier failed attempts, most recently in August. AFp</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>