U.S. defense chief may visit JSA during Seoul talks

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Heggeses is reportedly planning a visit to the Joint Security Area at the Korean Demilitarized Zone during a trip to South Korea next month to attend the Security Consultative Meeting following the APEC summit in Gyeongju. If confirmed, it would be the first visit by a U.S. defense chief to the JSA since 2017.

Government sources said on Oct. 20 that South Korea and the United States are coordinating to schedule Heggeses’ JSA visit during his Seoul trip. The United Nations Command, which oversees the JSA, is expected to suspend special tours through Nov. 3, including during APEC week. Observers say South Korean Defense Minister An Kyoo-baek may accompany him.

During the first term of the Trump administration in October 2017, then-Defense Secretary James Mattis visited the JSA amid heightened tensions from North Korea’s sixth nuclear test and successive intercontinental ballistic missile launches, delivering a warning to Pyongyang.

With U.S. Indo-Pacific policy and the Korean Peninsula’s security situation having changed over the past eight years, attention is on what message Heggeses might deliver. U.S. President Donald Trump has continued to signal openness to talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who last month mentioned “good memories” and said there is “no reason not to meet.” U.S. officials are also reportedly monitoring the situation for a potential North Korea–U.S. summit during Heggeses’ visit.

Heggeses is expected to emphasize alliance burden-sharing and countering China during his visit, ahead of the Pentagon’s release of the National Defense Strategy. South Korea, responding to U.S. modernization demands, has agreed to raise defense spending to about 3.5 percent of GDP, and Heggeses may stress the need to bolster South Korea’s capabilities against North Korea. In May, he mentioned North Korea while urging Indo-Pacific allies to increase defense spending at the Shangri-La Dialogue.

The upcoming Security Consultative Meeting is also expected to feature U.S. efforts to secure formal recognition of expanded strategic flexibility for U.S. Forces Korea in the joint statement. Military officials reportedly plan to keep wording similar to a January 2006 agreement between U.S. and South Korean diplomats. That agreement recognized the need for strategic flexibility while ensuring the U.S. respects South Korea’s position. The October 2006 SCM joint statement highlighted this arrangement positively.


Kyu-Jin Shin newjin@donga.com