Hegseth Pushes Allies on Korea, ASEAN, Vietnam

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the Korean Demilitarized Zone with South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu‑back, touring Observation Post Ouellette and Panmunjom in a symbolic reaffirmation of the U.S.–South Korea alliance ahead of their annual Security Consultative Meeting. The talks will review combined defense readiness, cyber and missile-defense cooperation and included demonstrations of combined readiness. Washington is pressing to make the roughly 28,500 U.S. forces in Korea more operationally flexible—potentially able to operate beyond the peninsula to deter threats including from China and to help defend Taiwan—a shift Seoul has resisted even as it boosts its own capabilities and plans a major defense budget increase. The visit comes after President Trump approved sharing submarine technology with Seoul and ahead of discussions on the long‑delayed wartime operational control (OPCON) transfer. On the sidelines Hegseth and Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun agreed to revive military‑to‑military channels to deconflict and deescalate, and in Southeast Asia Hegseth urged ASEAN unity on maritime surveillance and pledged expanded U.S. support to Vietnam, including about $130 million for Agent Orange cleanup.