Overview

• Freedom Edge began Monday off South Korea’s Jeju Island and runs through Friday, with air and naval training that allies say strengthens multi-domain interoperability.
• The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command called the drills the most advanced trilateral defense demonstration to date, featuring enhanced ballistic-missile and air-defense scenarios, maritime operations and medical evacuations.
• Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff say the exercise is defensive and intended to deter North Korea’s growing missile and nuclear threats while improving trilateral coordination.
• The U.S. and South Korea are also conducting the Iron Mace tabletop exercise at Camp Humphreys to rehearse Conventional-Nuclear Integration, focusing on coordination of U.S. nuclear-capable assets with ROK conventional forces.
• Kim Yo Jong warned the drills would bring “negative consequences,” and Pak Jong Chon labeled Iron Mace a “nuclear war rehearsal,” as North Korea’s U.N. mission asserted its nuclear status is permanently fixed in law, a posture often followed by military demonstrations in past years.