S. Korea, U.S. reaffirm defense unity / KBS 2025.11.03.　#KBSNews

Today (11.3), the defense ministers of South Korea and the United States visited the Joint Security Area (JSA) in Panmunjom to inspect border readiness.

Meanwhile, the chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from both countries conducted a joint command flight, reaffirming the strength of the combined defense posture both on the ground and in the air.

Here’s reporter Yoon Jin.

[Report]

South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrived at the Joint Security Area in Panmunjom by helicopter.

It was the first meeting between the two ministers since taking office, and they greeted each other with a warm handshake.

Panmunjom, a symbol of the division bet ween South and North Korea, was jointly visited by the defense ministers of South Korea and the United States for the first time in eight years since 2017.

At a guard post located just 25 meters from the Military Demarcation Line, the two ministers received an operational briefing and also toured the Panmunjom conference building.

[Ahn Gyu-back/Minister of National Defense: “This place has great symbolic meaning — it is the front line, but also where the Panmunjom Declaration was made and where Trump and Kim Jong-un met.”]

There was no direct message toward North Korea; instead, the visit served as an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of the South Korea–U.S. combined defense posture.

[Ahn Gyu-back/Minister of National Defense: “It was conveyed that we are quite satisfied with how South Korea and the United States are operating under a combined defense posture.”]

Tomorrow (11.4), the two ministers will hold the South Korea–U.S. Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), the highest-level defense dialogue between the two countries.

They will discuss major security issues such as the transition of wartime operational control, policy coordination on North Korea, combined defense posture and extended deterrence, and defense industry cooperation.

Meanwhile, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of both countries held a Military Committee meeting and assessed that “meaningful progress” had been made in the process of transitioning wartime operational control.

For the first time, the two chairmen also conducted a joint command flight — the South Korean chairman aboard a KF-16 fighter jet and the U.S. chairman aboard a U.S. Forces Korea F-16.

Both are former Air Force generals who previously piloted F-16s.

A formation of five aircraft — two South Korean and two U.S. fighters, along with a South Korean early warning and control aircraft — flew over the Korean Peninsula to inspect the solid combined defense readiness.

This is Yoon Jin, KBS News.

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