▲ King Sejong the Great
South Korea, the United States, and Japan will conduct a joint exercise in the waters of Hawaii to detect and track North Korean ballistic missiles.
From the 1st to the 14th of next month, the Pacific Dragon, a North Korean ballistic missile detection and tracking exercise, will be conducted in the waters near Hawaii, under the supervision of the US Pacific Fleet Command.
It detects North Korean ballistic missile targets and shares target information. In addition to South Korea, the US and Japan, five countries, including Australia and Canada, participate.
Eight surface ships and two aircraft will participate, and Korea's Sejong the Great (DDG, 7,600 ton class), which is participating in the Rimpac/RIMPAC exercise, will come out.
The training will be conducted in such a way that when the US military fires a simulated bomb that can be assumed to be a North Korean ballistic missile, the participating countries detect and track it and share information, while the US military intercepts the missile with a guided missile.
The training timing is flexible within the period depending on weather conditions or other training schedules in RIMPAC.
In the past, the Navy conducted joint ballistic missile detection and tracking drills with the US and Japan during the two-year RIMPAC exercise in the past.
However, in 2018 and 2020, under the last government, the training contents were not disclosed to the public.
(Photo = Yonhap News)