A U.S. aircraft carrier and its accompanying battleships will conduct a joint exercise with South Korean forces next month amid rising geopolitical risks on the Korean Peninsula.
According to Seoul's defense ministry report submitted Monday to the parliamentary defense committee, the South Korean military will take effective measures to counter the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear and missile threats.
As part of the efforts, the U.S. B-1B strategic bomber will be sent to the Korean Peninsula later this month, and the joint South Korea-U.S.-Japan missile warning drills will be carried out from this month to early October.
In October, the U.S. aircraft carrier strike group, led by a nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan, will be dispatched to the peninsula to stage a joint naval exercise with South Korean forces, according to the defense ministry's report.
The ministry said it will strengthen the regular mobilization of U.S. strategic military assets and rapidly wrap up the consultation with the U.S. side on the bilateral missile guideline to increase the payload of South Korea's homegrown ballistic missiles.
Seoul will also continue efforts to secure the so-called three-pillar system, including its indigenous missile defense system and preemptive attack capability against the DPRK's nuclear and missile sites, while ramping up cooperation with the international community for sanctions and pressure on Pyongyang, the ministry said.
The report came amid rising geopolitical risks on the peninsula, caused by the DPRK's launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), called Hwasong-12, on Friday.
It followed Pyongyang's test on Sept. 3 of what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb that can be fitted atop a ballistic missile with intercontinental capability.
UN Security Council unanimously approved a new resolution toughening sanctions on the DPRK, which curtails the country's oil imports, bans all of its textile exports and prohibits further work permits abroad for DPRK workers.
