South Korea, Japan and the U.S. are set to hold joint military drills from 9-11 September, to test their readiness against North Korea's missile and nuclear threats, Seoul announced on Friday.
The exercise comes as South Korea’s National Security Adviser, Wi Sung-lac, said the country supports U.S. President Donald Trump's push to restart dialogue with North Korea, but wants to make sure its own security posture isn't weakened and that Seoul isn't left on the sidelines of any negotiations.
"One point to keep in mind is the need to coordinate with the United States to ensure that any resumption of U.S.-North Korea dialogue leads to substantive progress on the North Korean nuclear issue, alongside efforts to establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula," Wi said.
Wi pointed to Trump's decision earlier this month to significantly scale back major joint military exercises between Seoul and Washington as a sign the U.S. President was open to re-engaging with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom he met three times in 2018 and 2019.
Trump partly justified the reduced Ulchi Freedom Shield drills by citing South Korea's refusal to assist in the Iran conflict, arguing the shortened exercise had sent the wrong signal to Pyongyang.
Despite backing renewed engagement, Wi made clear that Seoul didn’t want to be excluded from talks shaping its own security future.
He added that South Korea was also seeking to deepen cooperation with Washington across several issues that have periodically strained relations between the two allies.
These include South Korean investment commitments made under a recent trade deal, the treatment of U.S.-listed e-commerce company Coupang, as well as broader security cooperation, intelligence sharing, and the eventual transfer of wartime operational control of South Korean forces from the U.S. to Seoul.
The upcoming trilateral drills with Japan are expected to test the two allies' combined response capabilities against North Korea's evolving missile arsenal.
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