By Alex Jensen
SEOUL (AA) - South Korea, the United States and Japan stood firm against North Korea on Wednesday by carrying out their first anti-missile exercise, prompting Pyongyang to vow to become “a constant threat” to its enemies.
The drill was held in the Pacific Ocean off Hawaii as the North has defied the United Nations by continuing to develop ballistic missiles since being loaded with toughened sanctions in March.
Given the heavy presence of American troops in South Korea and Japan, a U.S. military statement claimed the exercise “enhances the already strong relationship of all three nations participating.”
Washington has been encouraging allies Seoul and Tokyo to work through their grievances stemming from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule – out of which a divided Korean Peninsula emerged.
It was significant then that Wednesday’s drill saw three major regional powers share data thanks to a trilateral pact in the face of Pyongyang’s persistent nuclear weapon ambitions.
South Korea’s Navy revealed that “destroyers of each country detected and tracked a simulated land-fired ballistic missile and shared their information on the target.”
North Korea – which last week claimed to have successfully test-fired a mid-range missile believed to be capable of striking American troops as far away as Guam – quickly promised to launch countermeasures against the trio’s “military provocation.”
“Now that the U.S. and other hostile forces are posing a constant threat to the security of (North Korea) and the region by frequently staging joint military exercises, the army and people of [North Korea will bolster in a sustainable manner the capabilities for preemptive nuclear attack to pose a constant threat to the enemies, and put spurs to research and development of diverse strategic attack weapons,” warned a foreign ministry spokesperson in a statement carried by Pyongyang’s state-run KCNA news agency.
Meanwhile, North Korean officials were also concentrating on a major parliamentary gathering at home, with the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly expected to further sharpen leader Kim Jong-un’s dual vision of a country dedicated to nuclear and economic development.