Korean, U.S. defense authorities dismiss speculation of rift in bilateral alliance

강신철 "美헤그세스, 한미동맹 이상설은 '가짜뉴스'라고 해"

The Defense Ministry here and the Pentagon are pushing back against speculation about strains in their security alliance with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly rejecting reports of a rift as "fake news".
Our foreign affairs correspondent Oh Soo-young reports.

Korea's defense minister says his U.S. counterpart has dismissed reports of a rift in the bilateral alliance as "fake news."
Kang Shin-chul said Friday that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the remark during their meeting in the Philippines earlier this week.
Speaking to reporters after returning to Seoul, Kang said there had been no disagreements, adding that the two countries had reaffirmed the strength of their alliance.
The ministers held their first face-to-face talks on Wednesday, meeting for around 40 minutes on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus in Cebu.
But questions emerged when Washington issued no statement on their discussions, despite releasing accounts of Hegseth's meetings with his counterparts from Japan, Australia, India, the Philippines and Singapore.
The Pentagon has now explained that the Korea-U.S. meeting was a brief, informal encounter, known as a "pull-aside."
A U.S. official said other such meetings had also gone without statements, and confirmed that Seoul's account accurately reflected the discussions.
The official rejected suggestions that the omission was linked to differences over wartime operational control, or OPCON, and the postponement of the allies' annual Security Consultative Meeting.
The meeting, normally held in the autumn, has been pushed back to early next year.
The delay has raised questions about Seoul's plans to regain wartime command authority before President Lee Jae Myung's term ends in 2030.
Under the allies' conditions-based agreement, the transfer requires verification of Korea's military capabilities, rather than simply setting a deadline.
Seoul had hoped to complete the verification of the future Combined Forces Command's full operational capability and establish a target year for the transfer.
But Washington has expressed reservations about accelerating the process before the necessary conditions are met.
Kang said the biggest achievement of Wednesday's talks was an agreement to work towards a common position on OPCON transfer.
On reports of restrictions on U.S. intelligence-sharing concerning North Korea, Kang said the military impact was limited and was not a major concern.
The defense chiefs are due to meet again in Washington in December, ahead of the rescheduled annual security talks early next year.
Oh Sooyoung, Arirang News.

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2026-10-30, 17:00 (KST)