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Military drills

South Korea, US, Japan kick off Freedom Edge exercise

Seoul said that the participating countries would expand the scale of the drills

SEOUL, June 27. /TASS/. South Korea, the United States and Japan have kicked off "their first trilateral multi-domain exercise" Freedom Edge in international waters south of South Korea’s Jeju Island, the Yonhap news agency reports, citing the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The drills involve planes, helicopters and warships, including the US Navy's USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and South Korea’s ROKS Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong destroyer. The news agency points out that South Korea, the US and Japan have previously held combined maritime and aerial exercises, but the Freedom Edge exercise is "their first trilateral exercise to take place across multiple domains."

The exercise, set to last until June 29, "will focus on ballistic missile defense, air defense, anti-submarine warfare, search and rescue, maritime interdiction and defensive cyber training."

Seoul said that the participating countries would expand the scale of the drills.

"The new exercise takes its name from key bilateral exercises the US holds regularly with the Asian neighbors - Freedom Shield with South Korea and Keen Edge with Japan," Yonhap notes.

The defense ministers of the three nations agreed to launch the drills on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue international forum in early June.

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Japan United States South Korea Military drills

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