South Korea said it will hold joint military drills with the United States and Japan between September 7 and 11.
The “Freedom Edge” exercise will be conducted in international waters east and south of South Korea’s Jeju Island, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
“This exercise is a defensive drill conducted annually by the three countries to respond to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and safeguard peace and stability in the region,” the JCS said in a statement.
Lt. Cmdr. Chloe Morgan, a spokesperson for the United States Pacific Command, said the exercise will “strengthen” U.S. defense partnerships and “ensure peace and stability throughout the Pacific.” Earlier this month, however, the United States scaled back annual drills with South Korea in an apparent attempt to encourage dialogue with North Korea. U.S. President Donald Trump said the exercises, which he cut from 11 days to 5, were “very insulting” to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. On Monday, South Korea said the United States canceled another joint exercise, the biennial Ssangyong drills, due to constraints on force availability caused by the war with Iran.
The Freedom Edge drills underscore a strategic tension in Washington’s approach to the Korean Peninsula: The United States is seeking to preserve trilateral military readiness and deterrence even as Trump scales back some exercises to create space for diplomacy with Pyongyang. North Korea’s continued missile activity and criticism of U.S.–South Korean defense cooperation suggest that reduced drills have yet to produce a meaningful shift in its posture. (AFP)
