SEOUL: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the Demilitarized Zone along the border with North Korea as part of a trip to South Korea on Monday, South Korea’s defense ministry said.
His visit to the heavily fortified DMZ came ahead of talks expected to involve Washington’s goal of reshaping the role of US troops in Korea.
Hegseth landed in the border area in a US army helicopter and met South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back, according to video footage released by the South Korean defense ministry.
“I believe it has symbolic and declarative significance itself, demonstrating the strength of the South Korea-US alliance and the combined defense posture,” Ahn said of Hegseth’s visit to the DMZ.
The defense chiefs are scheduled to hold the annual Security Consultative Meeting on Tuesday, the highest-level forum at which the two countries chart the course of their military alliance and South Korea’s defense against nuclear-armed North Korea.
