TOKYO - Japan, South Korea and the United States launched a trilateral multi-domain exercise Monday to boost capabilities and safeguard peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, with North Korea blasting it as part of Washington's "invariable" hostile policy toward the country.
The Freedom Edge exercise, featuring real-time data sharing and synchronized maritime and aviation coordination with more focus on cyber defense, will be held through Friday, the three countries said. Japan said it will be conducted in and over the East China Sea, among other locations.
At the drill's opening ceremony at U.S. Yokota Air Base in the suburbs of Tokyo, Vice Adm. Yoshiyasu Ishimaki of the Japan Joint Staff said the drill shows the "firm commitment of the three countries to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and to shaping a security environment that does not tolerate unilateral changes to the status quo by force."
Japan faces growing maritime assertiveness by China in the East China Sea around the Senkaku Islands, administered by Japan but claimed by Beijing.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff also noted that the exercise is intended to counter the nuclear and missile threats posed by North Korea.
"We assess Freedom Edge to be the most effective exercise that strengthens deterrence and joint response capability to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats," said South Korean Rear Adm. Kim Ji Hoon at the ceremony.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost, commander of U.S. Forces Japan, said, "We will strive to seamlessly integrate air, maritime, and cyber capabilities" through real-time information, data sharing and coordinated responses.
A spokesperson for the North Korean Foreign Ministry earlier condemned the exercise, calling it a "threat" to the country and the region, and vowed to respond to it with the "toughest stand," according to a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
Last month, an annual bilateral military exercise between South Korea and the United States, originally planned to last 11 days, was shortened after U.S. President Donald Trump said on social media that the drills are costly and may send the wrong signals to North Korea, and should therefore be limited.
Jost told reporters after the ceremony that there have been no changes in "scope, scale or training objectives" for the Freedom Edge exercise, the fourth of its kind since its establishment was announced in 2024. It was also held for five days last year.
