Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will hold their first bilateral talks in the Philippines this week ahead of a ministerial meeting led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a source familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
Kang and Hegseth are expected to meet one-on-one Wednesday, a day ahead of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) Plus plenary in Cebu, according to the source. It will mark their first sit-down since Kang assumed office in September.
Kang is scheduled to depart for Cebu on Tuesday to attend the high-level regional security dialogue and hold a series of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the participating countries, the defense ministry said in a release.
Kang's upcoming talks with Hegseth come as the allies face a host of pending defense and alliance issues to work out, particularly Seoul's efforts to retake wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington.
The Lee Jae Myung administration seeks to regain wartime OPCON before its five-year term ends in 2030, or even earlier. Washington, however, has expressed reservations about a rushed handover driven by political timelines rather than military readiness.
It remains to be seen whether their meeting in Cebu will set the stage for progress on the OPCON transition ahead of their expected meeting at the annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) in Washington in December.
Speaking to reporters later Tuesday, Kang said he plans to closely consult with his U.S. counterpart on the OPCON transfer and other alliance issues.
"I will basically discuss alliance issues, and certainly the OPCON transition will be brought up as well," Kang told reporters before heading to the airport.
He said he will discuss "what is necessary" regarding the pending verification of the "full operational capability" (FOC) of South Korean forces, one of the conditions required for the OPCON transfer.
Seoul wants to finalize the FOC verification, the second stage of a three-phase, "conditions-based" OPCON transition plan agreed upon with Washington and announce a target year for the handover at this year's SCM.
While South Korea says it has satisfied all FOC requirements, the US maintains that they have yet to be fulfilled, with U.S. Force Korea Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson recently stating that "conditions have changed" regarding the OPCON transition process.
At the ADMM Plus plenary session, Kang will send out a message highlighting the illegitimate nature of North Korea's recent land mine provocation near the inter-Korean border and call for an urgent need to resume dialogue, according to the source.
The Sept. 21 lane mine blast on the southern side of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) left three South Korean troops injured, two of them severely. South Korea has blamed the North for the incident after determining that a North Korean antipersonnel mine was the cause of the explosion.
At the plenary, Kang will also underscore the importance of international cooperation to ensure regional peace and present substantive measures to expand defense ties between South Korea and ASEAN nations, the ministry said.
He will detail Seoul's efforts to promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and call for support from the participating countries.
The ADMM Plus is a key dialogue platform bringing together the 11 ASEAN member states and regional partners, including the United States, China and Japan.
It is part of a series of annual high-level ASEAN security forums, hosted this year by the Philippines as the rotating chair. (Yonhap)
