South Korea, US, Japan to Hold 'Freedom Edge' Exercise East and South of Jeju from Sept. 7–11

South Korea, the United States, and Japan will conduct the "2026 Freedom Edge," a multi-domain trilateral exercise, on the high seas east and south of Jeju Island from September 7 to 11, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced today (the 28th).

The JCS stated, "This exercise is a regular, defensive trilateral drill conducted by South Korea, the U.S., and Japan to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats and to safeguard peace and stability in the region."

Freedom Edge, held in waters near the Korean Peninsula to strengthen trilateral security cooperation, has previously taken place three times: in June and November 2024, and in September of last year.

This upcoming exercise takes place about a year after the third drill, which was held from September 15 to 19 of last year.

Following an agreement to conduct regular multi-domain exercises reached at the Camp David trilateral summit in 2023, the three nations announced the implementation of Freedom Edge at a defense ministers' meeting in June of the following year.

Previous iterations of Freedom Edge have included maritime missile defense, air and air defense exercises, anti-submarine operations, and cyber defense drills.

The upcoming exercise is reportedly expected to be carried out at a similar scale and scope to previous years.

This exercise will be held immediately after the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise, Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS), was significantly downsized this month as the United States pursues the resumption of dialogue with North Korea.

While the South Korea-U.S. joint UFS exercise was scaled back, the continued execution of the trilateral Freedom Edge exercise is interpreted as a demonstration of commitment to trilateral security cooperation.

(Photo provided by JCS, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.