On June 7, the Korea Coast Guard announced that it had conducted a joint search and rescue exercise with the U.S. and Japan near Maizuru Port in Japan.
The training was conducted under a simulated scenario where a 14,000-ton cement freighter and a 474-ton general cargo ship collided and caught fire while sailing.
For the exercise, the Korea Coast Guard deployed a 3,000-ton ship and jointly responded with a 1,500-ton Japanese ship, fixed-wing aircraft, a 4,500-ton U.S. patrol ship, and drones for search and rescue operations.
While the Korea Coast Guard has been continuously conducting joint search and rescue exercises with the Japan Coast Guard since 2007, this is the first trilateral exercise involving the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) that has occurred.
The USCG participated in the search and rescue training as a follow-up to the Letter of Intent signed by the Korean, American, and Japanese maritime security agencies on May 10. This is to carry on the spirit of Camp David. Through this exercise, the Korean Coast Guard aims to develop effective response strategies for increasingly large and complex maritime accidents, share search and rescue knowledge among the three countries, and improve their accident response capabilities.
Head of the Korea Coast Guard Kim Jong Uk, stated, “Through this exercise, we will strengthen the Coast Guard’s accident response capabilities through continuous exchange and cooperation under a solid trilateral cooperation relationship.”