Japanese Submarine Conducts First Drills in South China Sea

A Japan Maritime Self Defence Forces submarine is moored at a pier in Kure, Hiroshima prefecture in Japan on April 12, 2016. Toshifumi Kitamura//AFP/Getty Images

TOKYO—A Japanese submarine has for the first time joined a naval drill in the South China Sea, the Ministry of Defense said on Sept. 17, in an expansion of Japanese activity in the disputed waterway claimed by China and others.

The submarine Kuroshio took part in the exercise on Sept. 13 with other Japanese warships, including the Kaga helicopter carrier, which is on a two-month tour of Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, a ministry spokesman said.