{"id":134969,"date":"2026-08-28T03:50:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T03:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/134969\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T03:50:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T03:50:25","slug":"south-korea-japan-and-us-set-joint-drills-despite-trump-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/134969\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea, Japan and US set joint drills despite Trump cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The three countries would conduct the <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/north-korea?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">North Korea<\/a>-focused Freedom Edge exercise from September 7 to 11 in international waters east and south of South Korea\u2019s Jeju Island, Seoul\u2019s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThis exercise is a defensive drill conducted annually by the three countries to respond to North Korea\u2019s nuclear and missile threats and safeguard peace and stability in the region,\u201d the JCS said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"People watch a television screen showing file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a railway station in Seoul in August. North Korea fired around 10 short-range ballistic missiles on August 20. Photo: AFP\/Getty Images\/TNS\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6bd66fc1-7ebe-456e-9d71-6070815520a0_e767f020.jpg\" title=\"People watch a television screen showing file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a railway station in Seoul in August. North Korea fired around 10 short-range ballistic missiles on August 20. Photo: AFP\/Getty Images\/TNS\"\/>People watch a television screen showing file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a railway station in Seoul in August. North Korea fired around 10 short-range ballistic missiles on August 20. Photo: AFP\/Getty Images\/TNS<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The multi-domain exercise is expected to include maritime missile defence, air and air-defence drills, anti-submarine warfare and cyber defence, according to Seoul\u2019s Yonhap news agency.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Freedom Edge was first held in June 2024 following an agreement reached by the leaders of the three countries at their Camp David summit in 2023.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThis premier multi-domain exercise will continue to reinforce our shared values, enhance our shared interoperability and further strengthen our defence partnerships to ensure peace and stability throughout the Pacific,\u201d said a spokeswoman for the United States Pacific Command, Yonhap reported on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The announcement comes after US President Donald Trump this month ordered the countries\u2019 annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises cut from 11 days to five.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The three countries would conduct the North Korea-focused Freedom Edge exercise from September 7 to 11 in international&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[67683,68572,74,68571,114,12550,141,31,34,24090,129,112,33,68573,444,5220],"class_list":["post-134969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-north-korea","tag-camp-david","tag-chloe-morgan","tag-donald-trump","tag-freedom-edge","tag-iran","tag-jeju-island","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-korea","tag-north-korea","tag-pacific","tag-pyongyang","tag-seoul","tag-south-korea","tag-ssangyong","tag-united-states","tag-yonhap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}