 "US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth. Reuters File")
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) along the border with North Korea on Monday as part of his trip to South Korea, the country’s defence ministry said. His visit to the heavily fortified border came ahead of high-level talks expected to focus on Washington’s plans to reshape the role of US forces stationed in Korea.
Hegseth arrived at the DMZ in a US Army helicopter and met South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back. “I believe it has symbolic and declarative significance itself, demonstrating the strength of the South Korea-US alliance and the combined defence posture,” Ahn said.
Security Consultative Meeting
The two defence chiefs are set to hold the annual Security Consultative Meeting on Tuesday — the highest-level forum guiding the future of the military alliance and Seoul’s defence against nuclear-armed North Korea. Discussions are expected to cover combined readiness, regional security, and cooperation in cyber and missile defence, according to South Korea’s defence ministry.
Washington’s new military approach
Washington is weighing a plan to make the role of the 28,500 US troops in South Korea more flexible, allowing potential operations beyond the Korean peninsula to respond to wider regional threats — including tensions in the South China Sea and around Taiwan.
South Korea has been cautious about such changes but continues to strengthen its own defence capabilities, aiming to eventually take wartime command of combined forces.
Seoul’s growing defence spending
Seoul is also planning its largest defence budget increase in years for 2026, partly in response to President Donald Trump’s call for US allies to contribute more towards the cost of American troop deployments.
Regional security and North Korea
During his DMZ visit, Hegseth and Ahn also toured the Panmunjom truce village. Later, the chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from both nations held strategic talks, agreeing to deepen cooperation with allies to ensure Indo-Pacific stability amid what Seoul called a “complex and unstable” security environment.
Meanwhile, nuclear-armed North Korea has continued to ignore overtures from Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung for dialogue, while significantly expanding its missile and conventional military capabilities.