▲ This file photo, provided by the Army, shows troops boarding a CH-47 helicopter during a joint aerial exercise between South Korea and the U.S. militaries on March 19, 2025. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) defense ministry-trilateral drills

(LEAD) S. Korea turns down U.S. offer for 3-way drills with Tokyo right before Japan's commemoration on Dokdo

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SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has effectively turned down the United States' proposal to stage a trilateral aerial exercise with Japan this month as the proposed date was right before Tokyo's annual celebration for its territorial claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo, sources said Monday.

On Jan. 15, the U.S. proposed holding trilateral drills with Seoul and Tokyo in February, but the proposed schedule overlapped with this year's Lunar New Year holiday from Feb. 15-18 and was also right before Japan's "Takeshima Day."

A Japanese prefecture has designated Feb. 22 as "Takeshima Day" to hold a regional event to assert Japan's territorial claim to the Dokdo islets. Dokdo has long been a recurring source of tension between the two neighbors as Tokyo continues to make the sovereignty claims.

In response, Seoul's defense ministry suggested pushing up the date of the trilateral drills so they would be staged far before Japan's regional event and also proposed conducting a bilateral aerial exercise with Washington after Japan's commemoration.

But the U.S. dismissed Seoul's offer earlier this month and notified South Korea of its plan to stage a solo aerial exercise this time, according to the sources.

The U.S. Forces Korea conducted aerial drills in waters off the west coast last Wednesday, and separately staged a joint air exercise with Japan off the Japanese coast and the East China Sea on two occasions last week.

The defense ministry said Monday the joint drills between the U.S. and Japan were "irrelevant" to trilateral drills among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan.

"The three countries will carry out trilateral security cooperation in a stable manner based on close coordination," Chung Binna, the ministry's spokesperson, told a press briefing.

She also said Seoul and Washington are "regularly" arranging details about combined exercises, including the schedule, method and the scope of participation.

"We reaffirm our firm and steady commitment to the South Korea-U.S. alliance, and security cooperation between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan," Chung said.

In regard to the major springtime exercise between the allies, Chung said the Freedom Shield exercise scheduled for March will proceed normally, adding the joint drills, which include field training, will be spread out across the year.

"This exercise will focus on verifying Seoul's full operational capability (FOC) as part of efforts to regain Seoul's wartime operational control from the U.S. within (President Lee Jae Myung's) term," Chung said. The FOC refers to the second part of a three-stage program to assess its capabilities to lead the allies' combined forces.

The remarks came as South Korean and U.S. militaries have postponed their joint press briefing initially set for Wednesday to announce the date for their annual springtime exercise this year due to differences over the scale of on-field drills.

The U.S. military is known to have expressed reluctance over the South's proposal to minimize field training during the Freedom Shield exercise.

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