South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed to hold missile defense and anti-submarine drills regularly to counter growing North Korean threats during their senior-level defense talks in Washington earlier this week, Seoul's defense ministry said Saturday.

They reached the agreement at a session of the Defense Trilateral Talks (DTT) on Friday (Washington time), amid tensions caused by Pyongyang's recent weapons tests, including that of what it claims to be a solid-fuel Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday.

"The representatives of the three countries decided to conduct missile defense and anti-submarine exercises on a regular basis to deter and respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, and had consultations on ways to resume trilateral training programs, including those for maritime interdiction and anti-piracy operations," the ministry said in a press release.

South Korean Deputy Defense Minister for Policy Heo Tae-keun, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner and Japanese Director General for Defense Policy Kazuo Masuda led their respective delegations at the latest DTT session.

The DTT was previously held in 2020. It did not take place in 2021 and last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic and historical tensions between Seoul and Tokyo.

Source: Yonhap News Agency