U.S., Australian and Canadian forces' patrol planes will use the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture as a home base from which to monitor North Korean smuggling via ship-to-ship transfers of items such as refined petroleum products on the high seas in the East China Sea, the foreign and defense ministries announced Saturday.
Australian and Canadian forces will dispatch patrol planes to the base. The Maritime Self-Defense Force, whose vessels and patrol planes are currently monitoring Pyongyang's smuggling of goods between ships in the area, will cooperate with the countries on information sharing, among other areas.
With the United States playing a leading role, the joint activities aim to pressure Pyongyang to take concrete actions toward the complete abolition of its nuclear arms and missiles. It is unusual for foreign forces other than U.S. forces to use a base in Japan to participate in such operations.
The United States will take the lead in coordinating the operation of Australian and Canadian forces' patrol planes. Australian and Canadian forces will use the U.S. base in Japan to carry out the operation based on the Agreement Regarding the Status of the United Nations Forces in Japan, with U.S. forces to support their operation. The agreement was concluded in relation to the Korean War.
The British government has already expressed its intention to participate in the joint surveillance against North Korea's ship-to-ship smuggling. British forces are expected to send their vessels to the East China Sea as soon as a joint exercise with the MSDF concludes in waters around Japan.
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