Hegseth praises South Korea's plans to raise its military spending, boost defence capabilities

SEOUL: US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth praised South Korea's plans to raise its military spending, saying Tuesday that the Asian ally will take a larger role in defending itself from North Korean aggressions as the allies must brace for regional contingencies.

Modernising the decades-long alliance between the US and South Korea is a key issue between the two Koreas, as the US apparently wants South Korea to increase its conventional defence capabilities so that Washington can focus more on China.

After annual security talks with South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back in Seoul, Hegseth told reporters that he was “greatly encouraged" by Seoul's commitment to increase defence spending and make greater investments in South Korean capabilities. He said the two agreed the investments would bolster South Korea's ability to lead its conventional deterrence and defence against North Korea.

In a speech at parliament earlier Tuesday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung asked lawmakers to approve an 8.2 per cent increase in defence spending next year, which he said would help modernise the South Korean military's weapons systems and reduce its reliance on the United States.

“We face, as we both acknowledge, a dangerous security environment, but our alliance is stronger than ever, "Hegseth said.

Hegseth said that he and Ahn agreed to demonstrate works to maintain and repair US warships in South Korea, a move that he said will harness South Korea's world-class shipbuilding capabilities and also “ensure our most lethal capabilities remain ready to respond to any crisis.”

Hegseth said the South Korea-US alliance is primarily aimed at coping with potential North Korean provocations but must also keep other regional threats in view.

“There's no doubt flexibility for regional contingencies is something we would take a look at, but we are focused on standing by our allies here and ensuring the threat of the DPRK is not a threat to the Republic of Korea and certainly continue to extend nuclear deterrence as we have before,” he said.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea — North Korea's official name — while the Republic of Korea is South Korea's formal name.

In recent years, the US and South Korea have been discussing how to integrate US nuclear weapons and South Korean conventional weapons in various contingencies. South Korea has no nuclear weapons and is under the US “nuclear umbrella” security commitment.

Ahn denied speculation that South Korea could eventually seek its own nuclear weapons program or is pushing for the redeployment of US tactical weapons that were removed from South Korea in the 1990s. He stressed that Seoul remains committed to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

“Because we cannot have nuclear weapons, that's why a system integrating US nuclear capabilities and South Korea's conventional weapons, the CNI (conventional-nuclear integration) framework, has been established,” he said.

Hegseth and Ahn did not issue a joint statement after the meeting, leaving the details of their agreements unclear. It's unusual for the two countries' defence ministerial talks to end without an immediate joint statement. But Hegseth said there was “no daylight or differences” between the two countries, only “a bigger deal which takes a little more time.”

North Korea didn't immediately comment on the Hegseth-Ahn meeting.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said earlier on Tuesday that it detected the North test-firing around 10 rounds of artillery toward its western seas Monday afternoon, shortly before Hegseth arrived at an inter-Korean border village with Ahn to kick off his two-day visit to South Korea.

The joint chiefs said the North also fired the same number of rounds Saturday afternoon, before a summit between Lee and Chinese President Xi Jinping, where Lee called for a stronger role by Beijing to persuade the North to return to dialogue with Washington and Seoul.

North Korea had expressed irritation over the agenda of the Lee-Xi meeting, ridiculing Seoul for clinging to a “pipe dream” that the North would one day give up its nuclear weapons.