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SEOUL, March 15 (AJP) - U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will skip South Korea during his first official tour of the Indo-Pacific region.
Hegseth plans to visit Guam, Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines later this month to discuss military cooperation and regional security concerns, according to Pentagon officials on Friday.
A potential stop in Seoul was considered but later excluded, reportedly due to political uncertainty here in the wake of President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law debacle in December last year.
His upcoming trip would be significant as it marks the first Asia-Pacific tour by a senior official since President Donald Trump began his second non-consecutive term in January this year.
It is widely speculated that Washington is taking a cautious approach by skipping Seoul, as Yoon remains suspended amid his pending impeachment trial, while Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun is also suspended and facing a criminal trial over the Dec. 3 debacle.
The next occasion for high-level bilateral defense discussions appears to be the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum, scheduled for late May in Singapore.
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