South Korea, US, Japan trilateral drill to go ahead as planned despite Trump‘s outreach to Pyongyang

The annual Freedom Edge exercise — a trilateral drill among South Korea, Japan and the US — will be conducted from Sept. 7 to 11 as scheduled, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday.

According to the JCS, Freedom Edge is a defensive exercise designed to strengthen the three countries' ability to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats and safeguard peace and stability in the region.

Freedom Edge is a regular multidomain trilateral exercise whose name combines elements of Ulchi Freedom Shield, a major South Korea-US exercise, and Keen Edge, a US-Japan exercise.

The three countries agreed to launch multidomain trilateral exercises during their leaders' summit at Camp David in August 2023. The first Freedom Edge exercise was held in June 2024, followed by a second round in November that year and a third in September 2025.

The three previous Freedom Edge exercise included maritime missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, air defense and aerial drills, search-and-rescue operations, maritime interdiction and cyber defense exercises. Anti-piracy training was also included during the third exercise last year.

Freedom Edge is proceeding as planned even as other South Korea-US exercises have been reduced or canceled.

The annual Korea-US drill Ulchi Freedom Shield was abruptly shortened this year following orders from US President Donald Trump, fanning speculation that the measure was part of Trump's outreach to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to hold a summit within the year.

Ssangyong, a division-level amphibious exercise involving South Korean and US naval and Marine forces that had been scheduled for September, was also canceled.

While Freedom Edge is set to go ahead without reductions to its planned scale or scope, other South Korea-US exercises scheduled between September and November could still be affected depending on developments surrounding a possible resumption of US-North Korea dialogue.

They include Iron Mace, a tabletop exercise focusing on the integration of nuclear and conventional capabilities; Freedom Flag, a combined air exercise; and the Buddy Squadron exercise.