There are “around ten artillery rockets”. They were shot down into the northern part of the West Sea – the Korean name for the Yellow Sea.
Hegseth visited the heavily secured border between North and South Korea on Monday. It was the first visit by a Pentagon chief there in eight years. Hegseth and his South Korean colleague Ahn Gyu Back reaffirmed “the strong common defense posture and close cooperation between South Korea and the USA” during a joint visit to the border town of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
At a joint press conference with Ahn on Tuesday, Hegseth referred to South Korea’s “dangerous security environment.” The two ministers agreed to “keep our eyes open to the threats” that their countries are facing.
The Pentagon chief also said increasing South Korea’s defense spending would accelerate the country’s “conventional deterrence and defense capability against North Korea.”
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Tuesday that Seoul would increase its defense budget by 8.2 percent to $4.6 billion (around four billion euros), making it the largest budget increase in six years.
Hegseth visited South Korea a few days after US President Donald Trump. Trump emphasized during a meeting with his colleague Lee last week that he wanted to end tensions between North Korea and South Korea. The two presidents met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea.
There was no meeting between Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, although Trump had shown himself open to such a meeting. He indicated that he was still willing to “go back” for a meeting with Kim.
