Seoul, Tokyo, Washington end major anti-submarine maneuvers

Seoul, Apr 4 (EFE).- South Korea, Japan and the United States concluded some large anti-submarine naval maneuvers Tuesday near the Korean peninsula, shortly after North Korea unveiled new nuclear weapons, including a submarine drone allegedly able to generate a radioactive tsunami.

The exercises, which lasted two days and are similar to other drills the countries carried out in September, also included search and rescue operations, according to the South Korean defense ministry.

The exercises occurred in waters to the south of Jeju Island, located off the southwestern coast of South Korea, and the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz has participated in them, which arrived in the region at the end of March. This coincided with the celebration of the great spring military exercises between Seoul and Washington.

Two other American destroyers, USS Wayne E. Meyer and USS Decatur, three South Koreans, ROKS Yulgok Yi I, ROKS Choe Yeong and ROKS Daejoyeong, and Japan’s JS Umigiri, also took part in the drills.

The exercises have been organized to improve the capabilities of the three countries to respond to “the increasingly advanced underwater threats from North Korea, including its submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM),” the defense ministry said.

They come shortly after Pyongyang, with the intention of responding to the spring combined exercises, said it carried out two tests of a nuclear submarine drone that supposedly can generate radioactive tsunamis to hit fleets and ports, just like Russia’s Poseidon does.

The drone or guided torpedo, called Haeil-1, is theoretically equipped with a tactical nuclear warhead called Hwasan-31 that the regime unveiled last week, this shows it is focused on boosting its short-range atomic arsenal for possible use in and around the Korean peninsula. EFE

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