• South Korea, US, Japan holding 3rd edition of trilateral Freedom Edge military drills this week
  
• Exercises 1st under President Lee Jae Myung, who has sought to restore ties with North Korea
• US, South Korea also staging Iron Mace military exercise at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek
  
• Lee ‘sees the picture quite clearly’ that he has ‘very little leverage’ with Pyongyang, analyst Cho Hee-kyoung tells Anadolu

ISTANBUL 

outh Korea will renounce “hostile acts” to reduce tensions with North Korea even as it is conducting military drills with the US and Japan in waters off the Korean Peninsula, officials and experts told Anadolu.

Analysts said Seoul has little leverage over Pyongyang and is therefore taking measures to seize the opportunity to restore ties.

Seoul’s attempts are aimed at creating a window of dialogue with Pyongyang after inter-Korean ties hit rock bottom under former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was ousted and jailed for his failed bid to impose martial law in December.

The US, South Korea and Japan launched the third edition of their multidomain “Freedom Edge” exercises on Monday in international waters east and south of South Korea's southern island of Jeju.

It is their third edition of such exercises – the first two were held in June and November last year – and will run for five days.

According to Yonhap news, a US aircraft carrier “is not expected to join this year's trilateral military exercise” as it focuses on tensions in the Middle East.

US Navy's USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS George Washington aircraft carriers joined the first two editions  

Seoul's 3 principles towards Pyongyang

According to the Unification Ministry in Seoul, South Korea is “building on the three principles” toward North Korea: “Respect for the North Korean system, the non-pursuit of unification by absorption, and the renunciation of hostile acts.”

However, according to Korean affairs analyst Cho Hee-kyoung, the South Korean president “sees the picture quite clearly.”

Lee knows he has “very little leverage when it comes to North Korea,” Cho, an academic at Hongik University in Seoul, told Anadolu over the phone.

Marking 100 days in office, Lee last week stressed it was the responsibility of Seoul to create conditions for dialogue with Pyongyang.

The Unification Ministry stressed to Anadolu that Seoul “will continue to advance preemptive measures aimed at easing military tensions and fostering trust between the North and South.”

Pyongyang has already criticized the ongoing drills, dubbing it a “reckless show of strength,” which could lead to negative consequences.

The US and South Korea are also staging the Iron Mace military exercise from Monday to Friday at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek.

It is the third since its launch under the Nuclear Consultative Group in April 2023, following a summit between Yoon and Joe Biden, and the first under Lee and Donald Trump, who have both sought renewed dialogue with North Korea.

Seoul “obviously does not want to send wrong message” to Pyongyang, said Cho when asked about changes in joint drills.

“Seoul especially wants to restore communication lines” with Pyongyang, she stressed, adding that even non-official communication lines between the divided Koreas were “cut” under Yoon administration, which threatened to eliminate the regime in Pyongyang.

She said Lee administration “desperately wants to restore normal ties … at least communications lines.”

They do “not want to annoy and aggravate [the situation] with North which becomes unhappy over military drills with the US,” said Cho. “That is why Lee appealed Trump to take lead in trying to resume negotiations with Pyongyang,” she added, recalling the summit between Lee and Trump last month at the White House.

And Pyongyang also “feels it has to negotiate with the US itself.”  

Seoul working to ‘normalize’ Unification Ministry

According to Unification Ministry spokesman Koo Byoung-sam, Seoul is “currently working to normalize the organizational structure” of the ministry “with a particular emphasis on restoring its capacity for inter-Korean dialogue, exchange, and cooperation.”