<span style="color: #222222;">South Korea and the United States began their first combined naval exercise near the peninsula in five years on Monday. The drills come a day after nuclear-armed North Korea conducted another ballistic missile launch, the latest in its record-breaking blitz of weapons tests this year. The US Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan, and its carrier strike group, including Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville, Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Barry and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold, have participated in the combined naval drills<br />''<br />''South Korea's navy in a statement said, the four-day exercise on South Korea's east coast will involve more than 20 vessels and an assortment of aircraft, which will conduct drills on anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare operations, tactical manoeuvres and other maritime operations. It said, the exercise was prepared to demonstrate the strong will of the South Korea-US alliance to respond to North Korean provocations.<br />''<br />''South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office in May, has vowed to beef up joint military exercises with the United States, after years of failed diplomacy with North Korea under his predecessor. Washington is Seoul's key security ally and stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect it from the nuclear-armed North.<br />''<br />''North Korea is under multiple sets of international sanctions over its programmes to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. </span><br />