The Navy conducted a drill in the West Sea on Tuesday on the occasion of the South Korea-U.S. Freedom Shield joint military exercises, which kicked off Monday.

The Navy’s 3rd Fleet took part in the drill, which focused on blocking the expansion of weapons of mass destruction(WMD) at sea in waters northwest of Gageo Island in the West Sea. 

Three naval warships, including the 25-hundred-ton frigates the Jeonbuk and the Gwangju, a UH-60 Black Hawk transport helicopter and a three-thousand-ton Coast Guard warship, took part in the drill to boost interoperability. 

The exercises focused on identifying via radar a ship suspected of carrying materials used for WMD proliferation and seizing the ship and apprehending its crew.

Also on Tuesday, the Navy’s 2nd Fleet carried out port defense drills at the Pyeongtaek-Dangjin International Passenger Terminal in Gyeonggi Province.

The drills saw the participation of a squadron of the 2nd Fleet, a brigade of the Army’s 51st Infantry Division, as well as Pyeongtaek city’s police force, coast guards, fire service and customs service.