Overview
- After annual security consultations in Seoul, Pete Hegseth praised President Lee Jae Myung’s request for an 8.2% defense budget increase and said Seoul will take a larger lead in conventional deterrence against the North.
- Hegseth said U.S. Forces Korea could gain flexibility to address regional contingencies beyond the peninsula, signaling possible participation in crises outside North Korea.
- South Korea reported roughly ten North Korean artillery rounds fired toward the Yellow Sea on Nov. 1 and Nov. 3, timed near a Lee–Xi meeting and Hegseth’s DMZ visit.
- The allies reaffirmed their combined defense posture, discussed maintaining and repairing U.S. warships in South Korea, and showcased a joint F-16 formation flight over Pyeongtaek.
- South Korean lawmakers relayed intelligence that Kim Jong-un may seek a spring meeting with President Trump and that the North is ready to conduct a nuclear test, with separate reporting of phased DPRK construction troop deployments to Russia.