Seoul: South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas on Monday, as the allies seek to resume diplomacy with North Korea while ensuring a robust combined defense posture.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the defense chiefs visited Observation Post Ouellette, the U.N. Command's military facility close to the Military Demarcation Line, and the Joint Security Area inside the DMZ. This visit marks the first joint visit to the buffer zone by the two countries' defense chiefs since October 2017.
The 250-kilometer-long, four-km-wide DMZ serves as a buffer zone between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. It remains unknown if Hegseth had a specific message for North Korea at the DMZ. Observers have suggested that the secretary might have a message of peace on the divided Korean Peninsula rather than a warning against Pyongyang, given that Seoul and Washington aim to create an opening to restart diplomacy with the regime.
The visit to the DMZ occurred about an hour after Hegseth landed at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, approximately 65 km south of Seoul, marking the beginning of his two-day visit to Korea. On Tuesday, Ahn and Hegseth will attend the allies' annual defense talks, known as the Security Consultative Meeting (SCM).
During the SCM, both sides are expected to discuss several key alliance issues, including the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington to Seoul, South Korea's defense spending, and the alliance's combined defense posture. The OPCON transition issue is anticipated to be a significant topic at the SCM, as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's administration seeks to regain wartime OPCON within its five-year term ending in 2030.
Seoul's push for the transfer comes as the South Korean military has increased efforts to enhance its independent defense capabilities, with Washington urging Seoul to assume greater security responsibilities. The two countries have been working on a conditions-based OPCON transition. South Korea handed over operational control of its troops during the 1950-53 Korean War. It regained peacetime OPCON in 1994, but wartime OPCON remains under U.S. control.
Additionally, on Tuesday, Hegseth plans to meet with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and visit U.S. troops at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, the largest U.S. overseas military installation, to express gratitude to them and their families. Korea is the final stop of Hegseth's Asia tour, which included visits to Hawaii, Japan, Malaysia, and Vietnam.