US, Japan Hold Joint Military Drills in Response to North Korean Missile Launch

The 5th and 8th Air Wing of Japan Air Self-Defense Force's F-15 and F-2 fighters hold a joint military drill with U.S. Marine Aircraft Group 12's F-35B fighters off Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu in this handout picture released Oct. 4, 2022. (Joint Staff Office of the Defense Ministry of Japan/Reuters)

The United States and Japan deployed fighter jets for joint exercises on Oct. 4 in response to North Korea’s test-firing of a ballistic missile over Japan.

The drills were held in airspace west of Japan’s Kyushu region, involving eight Japanese fighter jets and four U.S. fighter jets, according to Japan’s Joint Staff.

Japan’s Joint Staff said in a statement (pdf) that the security situation surrounding Japan has become “increasingly severe,” citing North Korea’s test-firing of a ballistic missile that flew over Japan early on Oct. 4.

“The drills will confirm the Japanese and U.S. forces’ readiness, demonstrate the strong determination of Japan and the United States to deal with any situation, and further strengthen the deterrence of the Japan–U.S. alliance,” the statement reads.

Gen. Koji Yamazaki, chief of Japan’s Joint Staff, met with U.S. Indo–Pacific Command chief Adm. John Aquilino in Tokyo on Oct. 4 to discuss “concrete initiatives” for U.S.–Japan collaboration to ensure stability in the region.

U.S. forces also conducted a bilateral exercise with the South Korean military on the same day.

https://twitter.com/INDOPACOM/status/1577462775252938755

North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan on Oct. 4 for the first time in five years, prompting Japan’s government to issue an emergency alert that warned people in several regions to take shelter.

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said the missile flew 4,600 kilometers (2,858 miles) at an altitude of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles), the longest-range missile that North Korea has launched so far, Kyodo News reported.

Kishida Holds Talks with Biden

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida spoke by telephone with President Joe Biden after the missile launch, and condemned North Korea’s missile test “in the strongest terms” for destabilizing the region.

The White House stated that both sides recognized the launch “as a danger to the Japanese people, destabilizing to the region, and a clear violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.”

The leaders agreed to closely coordinate their “immediate and longer-term response bilaterally, trilaterally with [South Korea], and with the international community,” it stated.

South Korea and the U.S. military fired four short-range missiles into the sea off the country’s east coast on Oct. 5 to showcase their “combined deterrent and dynamic strike capabilities” amid North Korea’s ongoing provocations.

“Our commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains ironclad,” U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s official name.