Donald Trump’s ‘Armada’ of aircraft carriers take part in massive show of force with Japanese warplanes off North Korea’s coast
Major exercise in the Sea of Japan follows Pyongyang's latest ballistic missile test
JAPANESE fighter jets and destroyers have joined Donald Trump's fearsome "Armada" of US aircraft carriers in an impressive show of force after the latest North Korean ballistic missile tests.
The major three-day wargames - the first of their kind for more than 20 years - are being staged in the Sea of Japan, where Monday's missile landed.
The drills include the strike groups of USS Carl Vinson and USS Ronald Reagan along with Japanese destroyers Hyuga and Ashigara.
The Hyuga is one of Japan's four aircraft carriers, while its F-15s are also taking part in simulated combat with US Navy F-18 fighters at the same time.
Washington and Tokyo have stepped up their rhetoric with an eye to stopping North Korea's missile and nuclear programmes.
Pyongyang has now conducted a dozen ballistic missile tests this year, in defiance of UN sanction warnings and amid fears that it may be preparing for another nuclear test.
A Japanese military spokesman said: "It is the first time we have exercised with two carriers.
"It is a major exercise for us."
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to work with other countries to deter North Korea, which on Monday conducted a short-range ballistic missile test.
The missile reached an altitude of 120 km (75 miles) before falling into the Sea of Japan in international waters, but inside Japan's exclusive economic zone where it has jurisdiction over maritime resources.
Less than a week before this provocative move, Kim Jong-Un was pictured smiling and hugging generals as he watched a nuke-carrying missile launched, while South Korea’s military reported another attempt in April.
David Helvey, US General Secretary James Mattis' senior adviser on Asia policy, said the exercise is to reassure allies rather provoke Kim Jong-un, despite admitting it was the first of its kind in 20 years.
"This is not about sending a message directly to North Korea," Helvey said.
"I don't expect this to change North Korea's behaviour."
The US has also deployed a missile defense system in South Korea, which is intended to protect the country from its rogue neighbours.
The United States currently has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea, as they are bound by a treaty dating back to the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce that left the peninsula in a technical state of war.
The Pentagon tested a rocket interceptor system to strike down a dummy ballistic missile, following North Korea's most recent launch.
The US test, estimated to have cost around £190 million, was held at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, 60 miles south of Santa Barbara.
A mock warhead - launched from 4,200 miles away on the Marshall Islands' Kwajalein Atoll - was knocked out of the skies over the Pacific Ocean, .
Last month, naval exercises were conducted in the same waters with the USS Carl Vinson and South Korean and Japanese aircraft taking part.
Washington described Thursday's drill as "routine training".
A US Seventh Fleet spokesman said: "The Ronald Reagan and Carl Vinson Strike Groups were joined by the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Forces (JMSDF) for routine training to improve inter-operability and readiness in the Indo-Asia Pacific."
The United States has led the efforts to bring further sanctions to punish the North and is urging China, Pyongyang's main sponsor, to play a greater role in applying pressure on the unpredictable regime of Kim Jong-un.
US President Donald Trump has said Monday's missile test showed "disrespect" for China, while Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe vowed that the "North Korean problem is the international community's top priority".
Along with South Korea, Japan is the most directly threatened by Pyongyang's provocations - Monday's test was the second time this year that a North Korean missile has fallen close to its shores.
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