South Korea, Japan and the United States Will Hold Freedom Edge Drills in September Despite Scaled-Back Exercises

South Korea said on Friday that it will hold the Freedom Edge exercise with the United States and Japan in early September, the South China Morning Post reported. The Korea Herald and Korea Times put the dates at 7 to 11 September, in international waters east and south of Jeju Island, with the exercise focused on North Korea's nuclear and missile forces.

The timing is the point. Washington and Seoul cut their bilateral Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise by half last week after President Donald Trump said large-scale drills sent what he called an inappropriate and hostile message to Pyongyang, part of his effort to restart direct talks with Kim Jong-un. The trilateral drill proceeds unchanged, US News reported.

What is being reduced is the American bilateral commitment. What is being maintained is the arrangement between South Korea and Japan, two states that spent decades avoiding military cooperation with each other. Seoul and Tokyo are keeping that cooperation in place while Washington adjusts its own posture for diplomatic reasons.

North Korea has consistently described these exercises as rehearsals for invasion and has responded to previous rounds with missile tests. It has not yet responded to the September announcement.