The United States, Australia, Japan and France will hold the first maritime exercise aimed at intercepting ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction from September 12 to 14 in the Coral Sea.

"It will be the first of these interdiction exercises, and Australia will lead it,'' a spokesman for Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Friday.

The spokesman said defence forces from the United States, Australia and France would be involved in the "Pacific Protector'' exercise, while Japan would provide its coastguard.

"It will be a series of maritime, air and ground, interdiction training exercises,'' said the spokesman.

While the initiative is not specifically aimed at the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), few doubt that this is the target.

The United States launched a Proliferation Security Initiative in May, with 11 nations signing the initiative which would see the interception of ships and aircraft suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction.

The seven other nations in the initiative are Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain. Some will send observers to the Coral Sea exercise.

The "Pacific Protector'' exercise will be the first of 10 planned in coming months, raising concerns among legal experts that the action may be illegal.

The Australian foreign ministry spokesman said any interception on the high seas would be conducted within international and domestic law.

"Any such activities will be conducted within the existing legal parameters,'' he said.

In a high-profile incident last December, Spain intercepted a DPRK ship in the Arabian Sea carrying Scud missiles for Yemen and handed over the vessel to the United States.

Washington allowed the ship to continue its voyage after concluding the missile shipment did not break any laws.

The DPRK has dismissed US criticism of its missile exports as interference in its internal affairs.

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