The Pentagon chief's speech at an annual defense forum in Singapore used to highlight defense cooperation with South Korea and trilateral efforts with Japan as the United States has sought to leverage the core Asian allies for peace in the face of a provocative North Korea and an assertive China.
But South Korea was almost absent in this year's Shangri-La Dialogue speech by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, adding to concerns that the monthslong absence of a fully elected leader in South Korea could have an impact on the bilateral alliance.
The speech was delivered as South Korea is set to pick a new president in an election slated for Tuesday. The presidential vote was set up following the April ouster of former President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived martial law declaration in December.
Hegseth's speech spelled out security engagements with Japan, the Philippines, Australia, Thailand and India as well as the trilateral partnership between the US, Japan and Australia. But Korea was not mentioned in his narrative of security cooperation with Indo-Pacific allies and partners.
He touched on South Korea once, when he announced a defense cooperation project that will enable Korea and New Zealand, which use P-8 maritime aircraft, to repair the plane in the Indo-Pacific rather than relying on a single repair source in the continental U.S.
The increasingly worrisome North Korean military quandary was not given much attention in the secretary's speech either, whereas he accentuated threats from China and stressed the need for allies to increase defense spending and serve as "force multipliers" in the midst of threats from Beijing.
The secretary's perceived lack of focus on cooperation with South Korea followed a recent Wall Street Journal report that the Pentagon is considering the idea of pulling out around 4,500 troops from the 28,500-strong US Forces Korea (USFK). The Pentagon has dismissed the report as untrue, but speculation continues.
A senior US defense official has said that given the US' priority on deterring China, it is "essential" to work with the incoming Seoul government to "modernize" the alliance and "calibrate" US force posture on the Korean Peninsula -- a remark that apparently left open the door for an adjustment to the USFK presence.
South Korea was also absent in the secretary's plans for bilateral, trilateral and multilateral talks on the sidelines of the annual forum, as Seoul sent Deputy Defense Minister for Policy Cho Chang-rae to the forum rather than its acting Defense Minister Kim Sun-ho.
"My understanding is (the secretary's South Korean) counterpart was not able to be attending the Shangri-La Dialogue. That's why he is not able to do the bilateral meeting with South Korea at this time," a senior US defense official told reporters earlier this week.
"But obviously we look forward to working with the incoming South Korean government after the election. I also want to reiterate the US-ROK alliance remains critical to the US interests," he added. ROK stands for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.
Though South Korea was rarely seen in official events, its officials made behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts to maintain engagements with foreign partners, a diplomatic source told Yonhap News Agency.
"Still, we have received a due amount of requests from foreign governments for engagements at the forum," the source said.
Still, South Koreans appear to have been a bit let down about a lack of attention to Korea in the secretary's remarks.
"I felt that it was a bit unfortunate," another source said.
Worries about the strength of the alliance in the midst of political uncertainty in Seoul emerged in March as well when Hegseth skipped South Korea in his first trip to the Indo-Pacific, which included stops in Japan and the Philippines.
Brushing aside those concerns, Seoul and Washington continued to hold regular defense talks.
Early this month, the allies held the Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue in Washington, where the two sides agreed to further cooperate to achieve shared security goals on the peninsula and in the Indo-Pacific. The two sides are also expected to hold a meeting of the Nuclear Consultative Group, their key nuclear deterrence body.
Observers pin hopes on the full resumption of high-level talks between South Korea and the US once a new government is launched next month. (Yonhap)
