Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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한미일, 다음 달 ‘프리덤 에지’ 실시 UFS 축소 뒤 주목

South Korea the U.S. and Japan will take to the waters off Jeju next month for five days of joint defense drills keeping their trilateral security cooperation on course despite Washington's recent scaling back of some exercises with Seoul.
Our defense correspondent Park Kun-woo reports.

The trilateral military exercise "Freedom Edge" between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan is set to take place for five days starting September 7th in international waters near Jeju Island.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday the annual exercise is aimed at responding to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats while safeguarding peace and stability in the region.
While the JCS described the exercise as defensive in nature without disclosing further details, one expert says this year's drills are expected to place a strong focus on the North.


"Given North Korea's recent ballistic missile launch tests, this exercise will have a strong defensive focus in preparing for those threats. Freedom Edge is a multi-domain exercise, and exercises like this are necessary to enhance interoperability among the three countries and maintain close trilateral security cooperation."

The most recent Freedom Edge exercise was held last September, and this year's is expected to be similar in scale and scope, including maritime missile defense and cyber defense.
A JCS official said the number of personnel participating from each country is still under review.

This time, the exercise is drawing greater attention following the scaled-back ROK-U.S. Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise earlier this month.
While a U.S. Forces Korea official said Friday that UFS and Freedom Edge should not be "conflated," one expert says the exercise going ahead as scheduled still carries significance.


"Despite concerns over the scale-back, Freedom Edge is going ahead as scheduled. Trilateral security cooperation may have lost some momentum since the start of the second Trump administration, but the exercise shows that the framework established under the Biden administration remains in place and that practical cooperation is continuing."

As with the previous Freedom Edge exercise, a U.S. aircraft carrier may not take part this time, with the Japan-based USS George Washington recently deployed to the Middle East amid the prolonged conflict with Iran.

Still, the upcoming exercise is expected to serve as another test of how closely the three countries can maintain military coordination amid changing regional security conditions.

Park Kun-woo, Arirang News.

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2026-08-28, 17:00 (KST)