US, South Korea and Japan to hold trilateral drill

South Korea, the US and Japan would go ahead with a trilateral military drill next month in response to North Korean nuclear threats, officials in Seoul said yesterday, a day after North Korea vowed to retaliate against what it called US hostilities.The development further dims prospects for an early resumption of diplomacy between North Korea and the US, despite US President Donald Trump’s recent decision to scale back a major bilateral military drill with South Korea in an apparent goodwill gesture toward Pyongyang.The Freedom Edge exercise would start on Sept. 7 for a five-day run in the waters off South Korea’s southern Jeju Island, South Korea’s military said in a statement. US Navy aircraft carrier the USS George Washington is pictured during the Freedom Edge trilateral exercise of t