Protection Minister Ahn Gyu-back and U.S. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth made a joint go to to the Joint Safety Space (JSA) on the truce village of Panmunjeom on Monday, marking the primary such look by the protection chiefs of the 2 allies in eight years.
The go to came about at some point earlier than the 57th Safety Consultative Assembly (SCM) in Seoul, the place each side are anticipated to evaluation the alliance’s key safety agenda, together with South Korea’s nuclear-powered submarine program and the long-awaited switch of wartime operational management (OPCON).
Ahn and Hegseth had earlier met in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Saturday through the ASEAN Protection Ministers’ Assembly Plus, the place they mentioned follow-up measures to final month’s summit between Presidents Lee Jae Myung and Donald Trump.
Hegseth arrived in Korea over the weekend for a two-day go to, which included the JSA tour alongside Ahn. The joint look adopted final week’s Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation (APEC) conferences in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, the place a possible U.S.-North Korea summit didn’t happen.
The 2 protection chiefs met in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, and toured the JSA for about an hour, accompanied by senior U.S. and South Korean navy commanders.
Based on Seoul officers, Hegseth mentioned he was honored to go to “a symbolic web site of the Republic of Korea-U.S. alliance” and expressed appreciation for the joint safety operations he noticed.
Ahn greeted Hegseth upon arrival and requested if he was drained from journey, to which Hegseth replied with a smile, “I’m wonderful.”
Throughout their go to to Panmunjeom, the 2 ministers emphasised peace, dialogue and stability on the Korean Peninsula somewhat than a confrontational stance towards Pyongyang.
After the tour, Ahn advised reporters that Hegseth was impressed by the mixed patrols of South Korean and U.S. troops within the demilitarized zone.
“He mentioned he had imagined the border as a straight line however was stunned by the valleys and forests separating the 2 Koreas,” Ahn mentioned, including that the U.S. secretary was additionally struck by how shut the South’s Daeseong-dong village and the North’s Kijong-dong village have been to one another.
Ahn quoted Hegseth as describing the JSA as each “the frontline of division and a spot of dialogue,” reflecting its twin which means for the alliance.
When requested concerning the prospects for renewed U.S.-North Korea talks, Ahn mentioned, “That was not the aim of the go to,” including that their joint look itself despatched “a robust message of alliance solidarity.”
After finishing the Panmunjeom schedule, Hegseth traveled to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, to satisfy U.S. service members earlier than making ready for Tuesday’s SCM.
The annual assembly, first launched in 1968, serves because the highest-level protection coverage session between Seoul and Washington.
This 12 months’s session marks the primary formal in-person assembly between the present protection chiefs because the Lee Jae Myung administration and the second Donald Trump presidency have been launched. The agenda contains discussions on prolonged deterrence, mixed protection readiness, regional safety, and cooperation in area and missile protection.
A serious focus will probably be progress towards the switch of wartime operational management of the South’s navy. South Korea’s navy ceded wartime OPCON to the U.S. through the 1950-53 Korean Conflict. Whereas Seoul regained peacetime operational management in 1994, vital authority over fight operations stays with Washington.
South Korea is at present within the second section of a three-step evaluation course of often known as Full Operational Functionality and goals to finish this stage throughout subsequent 12 months’s joint navy workout routines.
Ahn plans to reaffirm the Lee administration’s purpose of attaining the transition inside its time period, whereas Hegseth has beforehand described the initiative as “a commendable effort,” suggesting continued U.S. help.
The 2 sides are additionally set to evaluation the main points of the nuclear submarine program that was permitted through the current summit between Lee and Trump.
