Troops from Japan, South Korea and the United States attend the Freedom Edge opening ceremony at Yokota Air Base, Japan, on Sept. 7, 2026. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — The United States, Japan and South Korea kicked off air, naval and cyberspace drills Monday, a day after North Korea commissioned a new destroyer it says can carry nuclear-armed missiles.
The five-day Freedom Edge exercise is designed to improve the three countries’ ability to work together against North Korean missile threats and other regional challenges, including by sharing information and coordinating air and missile defenses.
The drills — underway in international waters off South Korea’s Jeju Island in the East China Sea — also include medical evacuation and maritime interdiction training, according to officials from the three nations.
Troops will train with advanced capabilities at multiple locations, U.S. Forces Japan commander Lt. Gen. Stepehen Jost told those gathered in a Yokota hangar for Monday’s opening ceremony.
“We will strive to seamlessly integrate air, maritime and cyber capabilities,” he said. “We will also seek to expand trilateral Integrated Air and Missile Defense through real-time information, data sharing and coordinated responses.”
U.S. Forces Japan commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost, center, speaks to reporters after the Freedom Edge opening ceremony at Yokota Air Base, Japan, on Sept. 7, 2026. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
Freedom Edge, first held in 2024, aims to improve cohesion among the three countries’ militaries so they can operate together during a crisis or conflict.
“By building familiarity with, and confidence in, each other, we can then move with speed, precision and unified resolve whenever we are called upon to do so, no matter the challenge,” Jost said.
The exercise “strengthens deterrence and joint response capability to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats,” Rear Adm. Kim Ji-hoon, director of exercises and training for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the ceremony.
Rear Adm. Kim Ji-hoon, director of exercises and training for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks to reporters after the Freedom Edge opening ceremony at Yokota Air Base, Japan, on Sept. 7, 2026. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
North Korea on Sunday commissioned the Kang Kon, its second 5,000-ton Choe Hyon-class destroyer, which Pyongyang says is capable of carrying nuclear-armed missiles.
North Korea condemned Freedom Edge before it began.
The exercise constitutes “a threat to the DPRK and regional countries,” a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in an Aug. 31 statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
DPRK is an abbreviation for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Vice Adm. Yoshiyasu Ishimaki, director general of operations for Japan’s Joint Staff, said the three nations face security challenges on the Korean Peninsula and across the Indo-Pacific.
Freedom Edge “contributes to shaping a security environment that does not tolerate unilateral changes to the status quo by force,” he told the troops.
Vice Adm. Yoshiyasu Ishimaki, director general of operations for Japan’s Joint Staff, speaks to reporters after the Freedom Edge opening ceremony at Yokota Air Base, Japan, on Sept. 7, 2026. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
Freedom Edge follows last month’s Ulchi Freedom Shield, a large-scale U.S.-South Korea exercise that was shorted from 11 days to five after President Donald Trump complained about its cost and touted his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump wants to meet Kim as early as this fall in another attempt to persuade North Korea to denuclearize, The Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 18, citing unnamed U.S. officials.
USFJ did not immediately provide the number of troops, ships or aircraft participating in Freedom Edge. Previous iterations have involved thousands of U.S., Japanese and South Korean service members and warships, including the aircraft carrier USS George Washington.
The Japan-based carrier was recently sent to the Middle East, where it relieved the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose patrol has included 200 days in a combat zone while facing concerns about conditions aboard the ship.
The Abraham Lincoln departed Thailand on Sunday, its first regular port call in nine months.
The absence of an aircraft carrier at this week’s drill has had no impact on Freedom Edge, Jost told reporters after Monday’s ceremony.
“We are still committed to the training objectives of this exercise,” he said. “And it is not safe to say that this is the actual normal. The United States military responds to worldwide needs, and it’s not reflective of any commitment to this region.”