Twenty-five countries, including South Korea, will participate in an interdiction training exercise next week in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. State Department announced Friday.
The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) exercise is the first since the adoption of the United Nations Security Council resolution that allows interdiction of North Korean cargo ships, it said.
Dubbed "Leading Edge," the Oct. 30-31 exercise is to ensure "that the Gulf States will actively prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems and related materials," the department said.
It emphasized that the exercise is the "first since the adoption of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718 and includes the participation of Japan and South Korea."
Officials in Seoul have already said last week that South Korea will send a team of observers .
The U.N. resolution was passed the week North Korea conducted its first nuclear weapon test, and sanctions the communist regime.
PSI-style stops and searches of North Korean shipments are the pillars of the sanctions.
The United States has urged South Korea and China to join in the PSI exercise, saying their cooperation is critical due to their shared borders with North Korea.
The 25 participating countries are South Korea, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, England and the United States.
Washington, Oct. 27 (Yonhap New)
South Korea to participate in next week's PSI exercise: U.S. State Department |
