The U.S., South Korean, and Australian navy forces on Monday kicked off two-day maritime exercises in waters off the Korean peninsula intended to practice blocking shipments of North Korean WMDs, the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) announced.

The ROKN said the navies are staging “multilateral combined maritime interdiction exercise” off the coast of Jeju Island.

The exercise, a maritime interdiction operation (MIO), will practice means of preventing materials related to the DPRK’s WMD program from being brought into or out of the country.

“This exercise is to implement the UN Security Council resolutions against North Korea’s illegal provocative acts,” Admiral