Thursday’s Nikkei took up increased coordination of late between the U.S. military and the SDF as evidenced by recent joint drills involving three U.S. aircraft carriers and B-52 strategic bombers, speculating that the two nations are eager to display coordinated military operations to deter North Korea’s provocations. Referring to these operations as a “flexible deterrent option,” the daily said they appear to be working as Pyongyang has refrained from conducting nuclear and missile tests over the past two months.