U.S., South Korea and Japan open joint air and naval train

The United States, South Korea and Japan opened an air and naval train off a South Korean island on Monday (September 15, 2025) of their newest joint drill condemned by North Korea as a “reckless show of strength.”

The train known as Freedom Edge is aimed toward strengthening the nations’ mixed operational capabilities within the sea, air and our on-line world and is important to counter North Korea’s rising nuclear and missile threats, South Korea’s Defence Ministry stated.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command stated the train will embody U.S. Marine and Air Force aerial property and have enhanced ballistic-missile and air-defence drills, medical evacuations and maritime operations coaching, making it “the most advanced demonstration of trilateral defence cooperation to date.”

The train off South Korea’s southern Jeju Island runs via Friday.

The highly effective sister of North Korean chief Kim Jong Un earlier condemned the drills in state media, saying they present the nations’ confrontational stance towards the North.

“The reckless show of strength made by them in real action in the vicinity of the DPRK, which is the wrong place, will inevitably bring bad results to themselves,” Kim Yo Jong stated, utilizing the initials of North Korea’s formal identify, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

She additionally criticised the United States and South Korea over their newest Iron Mace tabletop train, which goals to discover methods to combine Washington’s nuclear and South Korea’s standard capabilities to bolster deterrence in opposition to North Korean threats.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries didn’t verify particulars of the train that was reported to be coinciding with Freedom Edge.

North Korea previously has carried out its personal army demonstrations or weapons exams in response to joint army workouts of its rivals.

Kim Jong Un’s authorities has repeatedly dismissed calls by Seoul and Washington to restart negotiations aimed toward winding down his weapons programmes, as he continues to prioritise Russia as a part of a international coverage aimed toward increasing ties with nations confronting the United States.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mr. Kim has despatched hundreds of troops and huge shipments of weapons, together with artillery and ballistic missiles, to assist gasoline President Vladimir Putin’s warfighting.

Mr. Kim additionally visited China earlier this month, and shared centre stage with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mr. Putin at an enormous army parade, in one other step aimed toward strengthening his diplomatic leverage.