Overview
- Pete Hegseth and Ahn Gyu-back toured the Joint Security Area and Observation Post Ouellette, the first joint DMZ visit by the allies’ defense chiefs since 2017.
- The visit preceded Tuesday’s Security Consultative Meeting in Seoul, where the agenda includes readiness against North Korea as well as cyber and missile defense.
- Washington is weighing greater strategic flexibility for roughly 28,500 U.S. troops in Korea to operate beyond the peninsula, a shift Seoul has treated cautiously.
- The transfer of wartime operational control to a South Korea-led command remains a central topic as Seoul expands its defense spending and capabilities.
- South Korean and U.S. Joint Chiefs oversaw a first-ever combined KF-16/F-16 formation flight over South Korea to demonstrate the alliance’s combined posture.