U.S.-Japan exercise uses North as ‘enemy’

A joint military exercise in Japan that began Thursday pits U.S. and Japanese forces against hypothetical provocations by North Korea and China, a Japanese daily said yesterday.
The Sankei Shimbun said the exercises, which involve only command post staff and not actual troop movements, are simulating such contingencies as North Korean moves to fuel its ballistic missiles. The newspaper said that if that happened, Japanese nationals in Korea would be evacuated and Japan Self Defense Force aircraft would provide security for their repatriation flights.
The exercises, called “Keen Edge,” are scheduled regularly, and test the ability of Japanese and U.S. forces in Japan to work together. The newspaper said Japanese military forces will be reorganized under a single operational command next month.