South Korea, US, and Japan to Hold "Freedom Edge" Exercise Southeast of Jeju

Trilateral Regular Multidomain Exercise Scheduled for September 7-11

Yonhap News Agency

The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on August 28, 2026, that South Korea, the United States, and Japan will conduct the multilateral "2026 Freedom Edge" exercise in the international waters east and south of Jeju from September 7 to 11.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff stated, "This exercise, which is defensive in nature and conducted annually by the three countries, aims to respond to nuclear and missile threats from North Korea and safeguard regional peace and stability." Freedom Edge, a trilateral security cooperation exercise conducted in the waters near the Korean Peninsula, was previously held three times—in June and November 2024, and in September last year.

This will be the first such exercise in about a year since the third round held from September 15 to 19, 2025. Following the agreement at the 2023 Camp David Trilateral Summit to institutionalize regular multilateral exercises, the three defense ministers officially announced the launch of Freedom Edge at their meeting in June 2024.

Previous iterations of Freedom Edge included training such as maritime missile defense, air and air defense drills, anti-submarine warfare, and cyber defense. This year's exercise is also expected to proceed at a similar scale and content. Notably, the exercise will take place immediately after the allied South Korea-U.S. "Ulchi Freedom Shield" (UFS) training, which was significantly scaled back as the United States pushes to reopen dialogue with North Korea. Although the UFS was reduced, the continued trilateral Freedom Edge drills are seen as an expression of commitment to South Korea-U.S.-Japan security cooperation.

While the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff emphasized that the main objective is to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, some analysts interpret the trilateral cooperation—including Freedom Edge itself—as also aimed at keeping China in check. However, similar to the previous third Freedom Edge exercise, it is possible that the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier will not participate. Amid the ongoing protracted war in Iran, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump recently deployed the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington, which had been stationed in Japan, to the Middle East. As the USS George Washington moves to the Middle East, concerns have been raised by some about a possible security gap emerging in Northeast Asia.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.