The coast guards of South Korea, the United States and Japan reportedly held their first joint exercises in the East Sea on Thursday. 

According to Japan’s Kyodo News, the joint drill took place in waters off the northern coast of Japan’s Maizuru in Kyoto Prefecture.

The three nations held the joint drill based on a scenario in which two ships collided with each other and a fire broke out. Coast guards searched and rescued ten crew members in the drill, which involved 280 people, three ships and helicopters. 

The leaders of the three countries agreed to establish a trilateral maritime security cooperation framework at a trilateral summit in August last year at Camp David.

Coast guards from the three nations signed an agreement last month to enhance maritime security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.

Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said that Thursday’s drill was aimed at strengthening their maritime cooperation in response to the increased assertiveness of China’s maritime activities.