The U.S. and South Korea used last week’s Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore to highlight growing alignment on expanding Seoul’s role in defending the Korean Peninsula. U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth praised South Korea as a model for burden sharing, citing President Lee Jae Myung’s plan to raise defense spending to 3.5% of GDP and assume greater responsibility for conventional defense. During a question-and-answer session, Hegseth also described Seoul’s push to accelerate wartime operational control (OPCON) transfer as “a breath of fresh air.”

South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back echoed many of the same themes in a speechoutlining