Hegseth visits DMZ ahead of talks on U.S. troops in South Korea

His visit to the heavily fortified DMZ came ahead of talks expected to involve Washington’s goal of reshaping the role of U.S. troops in Korea.

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Hegseth landed in the border area in a U.S. army helicopter and met South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back, according to video footage released by the South Korean defence ministry.

“I believe it has symbolic and declarative significance itself, demonstrating the strength of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and the combined defence posture,” Ahn said of Hegseth’s visit to the DMZ.

The defence 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 defence against nuclear-armed North Korea.

Ahn and Hegseth would discuss combined defence readiness against North Korea and cooperation on regional security and cyber and missile defence, the South’s Defence Ministry said.

The two are expected to discuss plans to respond to the “changing security environment and threats” by developing the alliance between the two countries, it said.

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Hegseth visited the Panmunjom truce village on the Demilitarised Zone border with North Korea, accompanied by South Korea’s Ahn, according to the South Korean defence ministry.

On Monday, the top military officials of the two countries held their annual meeting on strategic and operational directions for the combined forces and shared the view that the regional security environment was “complex and unstable.”

The two chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff pledged cooperation with other allies and partners to maintain the security of the Indo-Pacific and deter potential threats, South Korea’s Defence Ministry said in a statement.

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