{"id":87635,"date":"2026-09-07T14:33:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T14:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/87635\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T14:33:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T14:33:38","slug":"u-s-south-korea-japan-to-hold-freedom-edge-military-drills-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/87635\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S., South Korea, Japan to hold Freedom Edge military drills this week"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEOUL, South Korea (KLTV) – A trilateral military drill involving thousands of U.S., South Korea, and Japanese military personnel begins Monday in the waters near South Korea\u2019s Jeju island.<\/p>\n

Freedom Edge 26<\/a>, the fourth such exercise since 2024, looks to expand cooperation between the three nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s iteration features enhanced real-time data sharing and synchronized coordination among all three nations to defend against evolving regional threats,\u201d a news release<\/a> stated.<\/p>\n

Earlier this Summer, a meeting of the three countries\u2019 defense chiefs pledged<\/a> expanded security cooperation, including through Freedom Edge drills, to counter growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.<\/p>\n

Among Freedom Edge 26\u2019s focus, includes air defense scenarios, medical evacuation training, and maritime interdiction operations.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s Ministry of Defense<\/a> said the three countries are committed to stability in the Indo-Pacific region by shaping \u201ca security environment that does not tolerate unilateral changes to the status quo by force.\u201d<\/p>\n

On August 31, North Korea\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the announcement of the trilateral drills, rejecting U.S. policy calling for North Korea\u2019s denuclearization as a precondition for diplomacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur nukes serve as an absolute guarantee for defending its sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Korea has launched multiple missiles in recent weeks, according to U.S. Pacific Command<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The U.S. and South Korea concluded their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise on August 27, six days earlier than originally planned, at the direction of the U.S. President.<\/p>\n

Last month, President Donald Trump announced<\/a> on social media that he had ordered the drills be scaled back, calling them \u201ccostly\u201d and \u201chostile\u201d toward North Korea.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea,\u201d President Trump posted on Truth Social.<\/p>\n

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung responded to President Trump\u2019s decision, posting on X<\/a> that he hoped it would lead to a resumption of dialogue about establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

KLTV & KTRE anchor Lane Luckie is traveling to South Korea to explore the ties between East Texas and one of America\u2019s closest allies. Click here for more coverage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 KLTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEOUL, South Korea (KLTV) – A trilateral military drill involving thousands of U.S., South Korea, and Japanese military…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[52268,8,3026,33,1178,657,245,550],"class_list":["post-87635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-freedom-edge-exercise","tag-japan","tag-military","tag-nihon","tag-pentagon","tag-south-korea","tag-south-china-sea","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}