North Korea: US-Japan-South Korea joint military exercise is a serious provocation

On December 15, North Korea condemned the recent joint missile warning exercise between the US, Japan and South Korea as "a serious military provocation that aggravates the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region."

The South Korean military fires a Hyunmoo-2 missile during a drill. (Source: EPA/VNA)

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) cited a statement from the Institute for Disarmament and Peace under the country's Foreign Ministry stating that the US has continuously conducted various military exercises against North Korea, including two missile warning exercises in 2016 and four this year.

The agency said the recent exercise "aims to strengthen the construction of the Missile Defense System and establish a three-way military alliance between the US, Japan and South Korea," and warned that this would "cause a new arms race and a new cold war" on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.

Previously, on December 11, US, Japanese and South Korean forces conducted a two-day missile tracking and detection exercise in waters near the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

This is the first exercise between the three countries since North Korea test-launched the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) late last month.

The drills took place as South Korean experts detected some signs that North Korea is preparing to conduct provocations with a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) called Pukguksong-3.

Japanese media also mentioned the possibility that North Korea is about to launch an SLBM./.

According to Vietnamplus