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South Korean, U.S. defense chiefs visit JSA in symbolic show of allied solidarity

Published: 03 Nov. 2025, 20:01 Updated: 03 Nov. 2025, 20:54

SARAH KIM
[email protected]

South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back, left, shakes hands with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom during a visit to the Joint Security Area (JSA) in Paju, Gyeonggi, on Nov. 3. [MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE]

South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth paid a joint visit to the Joint Security Area (JSA) within the heavily fortified demilitarized zone (DMZ) in Paju, Gyeonggi, on Monday, a trip symbolic of the allies' robust combined defense posture.

This marks the first joint visit to the JSA by the defense chiefs of Seoul and Washington in eight years. Such joint trips are often seen as sending a message to North Korea and other adversaries in the region about the strength of the bilateral alliance.

"The very act of accompanying Secretary Hegseth to Panmunjom has symbolic and declarative significance, demonstrating the capabilities of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and the strength of our combined defense posture," Ahn said during the visit.

Hegseth arrived at a military post in the area on a U.S. Army helicopter and was greeted by Ahn, and the two defense chiefs exchanged initial greetings.

South Korea's Ministry of National Defense said in a statement that the two defense chiefs received a briefing from the commander of the JSA Security Battalion from Observation Post Ouellette and visited the Panmunjom conference room. Observation Post Ouellette is located just 25 meters from the military demarcation line (MDL), the northernmost point of the DMZ.

Visits to the JSA by senior U.S. security officials are considered meaningful, as it is the site where the U.S.-led United Nations Command and North Korea signed an Armistice Agreement to end the 1950-53 Korean War.

Earlier Monday, Hegseth arrived in Seoul for a two-day visit, the last leg of an Asia trip which also took him to Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam. This marks Hegseth's first trip to South Korea since he took the post in January.

His trip comes after U.S. President Donald Trump visited Korea for his second summit with President Lee Jae Myung last Wednesday in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, on the margins of the APEC summit.

Ahn and Hegseth were set to hold the 57th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) at the Defense Ministry in Seoul on Tuesday. The annual SCM is expected to be an opportunity for Seoul and Washington to discuss a slew of pending defense issues, including the transfer of wartime operational control (Opcon), an increase in South Korea's defense budget and an expanded role for the U.S. Forces Korea.

South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Jin Yong-sung, left, and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Dan Caine, shake hands before the allies’ first-ever combined formation flight in the skies above Korea on Nov. 3. [JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF]

The Lee administration has pledged to complete the transfer of Opcon within its five-year term, which in turn aligns with the Trump government's policy of allies strengthening their own self-defense capabilities.

The Defense Ministry said that the two sides could also discuss cooperation on regional security and cyber and missile defense, as well as plans to respond to the changing security environment and threats by developing the bilateral alliance.

Other issues could include South Korea's construction of a nuclear-powered submarine, as agreed upon during the Lee-Trump summit last week, and other issues pertaining to defense readiness against North Korea's threats and regional security.

The SCM will be the first formal meeting between the South Korean and U.S. defense chiefs in about a year, since the 56th SCM in Washington in October 2024.

Seoul and Washington have been discussing modernizing the bilateral alliance, with Washington keen to make the role of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea more flexible, especially amid rising Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea and around Taiwan.

Hegseth also visited the U.S. military base in Camp Humphreys in Gyeonggi and thanked service members and their families.

In October 2017, then South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Trump's first secretary of defense in his first term, visited the JSA during a time of heightened North Korea nuclear and missile threats. This led to a period of détente on the Korean Peninsula in 2018, as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Trump engaged in denuclearization talks.

Trump likewise had a briefing encounter with leader Kim at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom in the DMZ in June 2019, accompanied by then President Moon Jae-in.

KF-16 and F-16 fighter jets carrying South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Jin Yong-sung and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Dan Caine, fly over the skies near Gangwon's Chuncheon on Nov. 3, after taking off from Osan Air Base in Gyeonggi. The two JCS chairmen oversaw a combined formation flight and marked the first joint commander's flight for the alliance. [JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF]

On the same day, the South Korean and U.S. military chiefs conducted a joint commander's flight for the first time on Monday, following the 50th military committee meeting in Seoul.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jin Yong-sung and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Dan Caine, oversaw a combined formation flight aboard South Korean KF-16 and U.S. F-16 fighter jets.

They took off from Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek and flew over Osan, Chuncheon, Daejeon and Camp Humphreys.

The two military leaders agreed to develop conventional nuclear integration concepts in a seamless manner in accordance with the Nuclear Consultative Group's guidance, and to enhance these activities to expand the alliance's deterrence, they said in a joint statement.

BY SARAH KIM [[email protected]]