A U.S. Navy sailor stands watch on the flight deck of the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey during the Freedom Edge exercise in waters between South Korea and Japan, Nov. 14, 2024. (Greg Johnson/U.S. Navy)
The United States, South Korea and Japan are slated to carry out the most advanced version of their trilateral air and naval drills this month in response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
The five-day exercise, dubbed Freedom Edge, will begin Sept. 15 in the southeastern waters off South Korea’s Jeju Island, the country’s Ministry of National Defense said in a news release Friday.
The ministry said the training “complies with the international law and norms” and is necessary for the three countries to maintain a credible deterrent against threats from Pyongyang.
The exercise will include U.S. Marine Corps and Air Force aerial assets and is described by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command as “the most advanced demonstration of trilateral defense cooperation to date.”
“The continued cooperation of all three nations tangibly demonstrates strength and an unwavering commitment to the defense of our vital interests against shared threats and strengthens deterrence in the Asia-Pacific,” the command said in a statement Thursday.
U.S., South Korean and Japanese fighter jets fly in formation during the Freedom Edge exercise in waters between South Korea and Japan, Nov. 13, 2024. (Greg Johnson/U.S. Navy)
The first Freedom Edge ran three days starting June 27, 2024. It involved U.S. warships, including the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, and destroyers USS Halsey and USS Daniel Inouye. The South Korean and Japanese navies each deployed two destroyers and several maritime patrol aircraft.
Drills included anti-submarine operations, ballistic missile defense, search-and-rescue and maritime interception.
Two days before the training, then-South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol boarded the Theodore Roosevelt and called the drills a “powerful deterrent” against North Korea.
The exercise began a day after Pyongyang fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea. The South said the missile exploded mid-air, while North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency claimed the launch was successful.
The second Freedom Edge ran three days starting Nov. 13, with 7,000 service members and seven warships, led by the aircraft carrier USS George Washington.
Trilateral air and naval drills between the U.S., South Korea and Japan have been carried out regularly since 2023, when Yoon, then-President Joe Biden and Japan’s then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to form a military partnership to counter Pyongyang.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry has denounced the training, calling Freedom Edge “provocative military muscle-flexing,” according to a statement published by KCNA on June 30, 2024.
AloJapan.com