SEOUL, South Korea — “Freedom Edge,” trilateral military drills by forces from Japan, South Korea and the United States, kicked off Thursday for a three-day run, in an exercise that may be as important politically as operationally.
With the Biden administration strongly pushing for better coordination with its key regional allies, the subtext to the drills is entrenching the emerging but still fragile security relationship between Seoul and Tokyo, in a region where Chinese, North Korean and Russian forces all maintain a major presence.
The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, the Japanese helicopter carrier Ise and destroyers and aircraft from all three nations will participate in drills taking place in waters south of South Korea’s Jeju Island, the site of a South Korean naval base.
The island is strategically located inside the “First Island Chain” at the southeastern exit to the Yellow Sea, home to major Chinese naval bases and shipyards.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific command said in a statement that the drills are aimed at enhancing the three militaries’ interoperability and will focus on cooperative ballistic missile defense, air defense, anti-submarine warfare, search and rescue, maritime interdiction and defensive cyber training.
However, at a time when many regional antagonisms play out short of full-scale conflict — balloon flights across the Korean DMZ or fishing-boat clashes around disputed reefs and islands in the South China Sea — no Emergency or Coast Guard units were included in the exercises.
The new drill was announced early this month after defense ministers from the three countries huddled on the sidelines of Singapore’s annual Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s leading defense symposium, and deputy foreign ministers gathered in Camp David, meetings meant to put meat on the bones of a basic trilateral skeleton.
The three-way partnership has largely been enabled by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. Since taking office in 2022, the conservative leader has made improving long-troubled relations with Japan a cornerstone of his foreign policy, a stance warmly welcomed by Washington.
While Washington has separate mutual defense treaties with Seoul and Tokyo, no official security architecture links all three.
The Freedom Edge drills appear designed to create an operational framework. Separately, a trilateral security office was announced at the Camp David meeting, though its location, size and staffing are not yet known.
The burgeoning security cooperation could face some political uncertainty in both Tokyo and, in particular, Seoul, with the U.S. presidential election presenting another wild card in the equation.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida faces an internal leadership challenge in September, though it is unlikely that Tokyo’s security stance will shift.
Japan’s media on Thursday reported on speculation that Digital Minister Taro Kono, a former defense and foreign minister who hails from a more conservative wing of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, may run against Mr. Kishida.
The political dynamics are more fluid in Seoul.
Mr. Yoon’s conservative People Power Party lost ground in April’s National Assembly elections, and the opposition Democratic Party of Korea has come out strongly against Mr. Yoon’s outreach policy toward Tokyo. Concerns exist that trilateral security could be dropped if the DPK wins 2027’s presidential election.
Different worries are also being voiced that a November U.S. presidential win by Donald Trump could alter the nature of Washington’s global alliances, including those with Japan and South Korea.
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
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