The military of South Korea, the United States and Japan participated in joint naval missile defense maneuver aimed at improving the response to North Korean threats.

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA): Despite North Korea's repeated warnings to America about holding military maneuver with South Korea and Japan in East Asia, these three countries have conducted exercises once again.
 
Local media reported on Monday that the militaries of South Korea, the United States and Japan participated in joint naval missile defense exercises aimed at improving response to threats from North Korea.
 
According to the Reuters news agency, representatives of the three countries agreed in talks in Washington on Friday to hold regular anti-submarine and missile defense exercises as part of efforts to strengthen diplomatic and military cooperation.
 
Hours after the US, South Korea and Japan military exercise, Ri Pyeong Chol, the deputy of the Central Military Commission of the North Korean ruling party, said in a statement that the country's weapons development is an act of self-defense against the US.
 
According to the report, he warned that Washington has increased regional tensions to the point of explosion by holding military exercises simulating a "preemptive nuclear strike and all-out war" against North Korea.
 
The North Korean official also added: "If America ignores our repeated warnings and continues to take actions that endanger the security environment of the Korean Peninsula, we will take the necessary measures to make the security crisis more obvious and an insurmountable threat felt."
 
North Korea test-fired a new solid-fuel ICBM on Friday, which experts say paves the way for a short-warning missile launch.