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BRISBANE, Australia (AP) - The first international air and naval exercise in a U.S.-led plan to stamp out global trade in weapons of mass destruction began Saturday off Australia's northeast coast, as North Korea branded the drill a "military provocation." The 11-nation operation, dubbed Exercise Pacific Protector, is the first by the signatories to the Proliferation Security Initiative proposed by President Bush in May to stop illegal weapons shipments by air, land or sea. About 800 military and security personnel - as well as aircraft and ships - from Australia, the United States, Japan and France are involved in the...

Exercise Focuses on WMD Traffickers By Donna Miles American Forces Information Service WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2003 -- A Japanese-flagged commercial merchant vessel is suspected of carrying items related to weapons of mass destruction. Military and law enforcement assets from Australia, France, Japan and the United States trail the vessel. The Japan coast guard, working with its French, U.S. and Australian law enforcement counterparts, boards the vessel on the high seas and conducts a search. This is the scenario for Pacific Protector, a three-day exercise now under way in international waters off northeastern Australia. The exercise, which began Sept. 12...

Exercise Aimed at Intercepting the North`s WMD Takes Place on Sep. 13 and 14 SEPTEMBER 05, 2003 23:24 by Jei-Gyoon Park (phark@donga.com) The first joint maritime exercise which aims to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction will be staged on September 13 and 14 in the Coral Sea off Australia`s northeast coast. The United States and 10 nations that participate in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) that U.S. President George W. Bush initiated reached an agreement on the exercise after two days of their third round of talks Wednesday and Thursday in Paris, France. The exercise, however, will...