US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will make his first trip to Seoul next week to meet with his South Korean counterpart, marking the two allies’ first ministerial-level defense talks since he took office, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said Monday.
Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back will hold the 57th Security Consultative Meeting with Hegseth on Nov. 4. The annual meeting, hosted alternately by the two countries, will take place in Seoul this year.
The meeting will mark the first face-to-face talks between Ahn and Hegseth, who spoke by phone in July following Ahn’s inauguration under the Lee Jae Myung administration.
The meeting will bring together senior defense and foreign-affairs officials from both sides, the ministry added.
“Both sides will discuss a wide range of issues aimed at advancing the alliance in a future-oriented and mutually beneficial way, in response to the evolving security environment and emerging threats,” the ministry said in a statement.
Topics on the agenda are expected to include coordination on North Korea policy, combined defense posture, the US extended-deterrence commitment, regional security cooperation, and collaboration in new domains such as cyber, space, and missile defense — as well as defense-industry cooperation in shipbuilding, maintenance, repair and overhaul.
Hegseth’s visit was previously planned for March. It was called off amid South Korea’s political turmoil amid the fallout from former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law declaration on Dec. 3 and subsequent impeachment, as well as scheduling adjustments in Washington.
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