The Ministry of National Defense said on the 9th that Minister Ahn Gyu-baek will visit the United States from the 10th to the 14th. It will be Ahn's first trip to the United States since taking office in July last year. On the 11th (local time) in Washington, D.C., Ahn will hold talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and meet with the acting secretary of the Navy, the chair and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the chair of the Seapower Subcommittee.
A Ministry of National Defense official said of the trip, "It is intended for direct high-level communication to check implementation related to follow-up measures to the South Korea-U.S. summit and the South Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) agreements," adding, "Wartime operational control (OPCON) and nuclear-powered submarines will be key agenda items."
The Lee Jae-myung administration is pursuing OPCON transfer during its term as a state agenda item and is reviewing 2028, before the current South Korean and U.S. administrations end their terms, as the target year for OPCON transfer. At the SCM held last year by the two countries' defense ministers, they agreed to draw up a roadmap on meeting the conditions for OPCON transfer and to complete this year the second of the three-step verification procedures for achieving those conditions. However, a gap emerged after Xavier Brunson, the U.S. Forces Korea commander, mentioned the first quarter of 2029 as a target timeframe during a congressional hearing.
Cooperation on building nuclear-powered submarines has not gained speed amid the negative fallout from the Coupang issue.
The trip draws attention as it comes amid accumulating pending issues, including contributions to freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and U.S. restrictions on sharing satellite intelligence on North Korea. Recently, the United States urged South Korea to contribute to resuming transit in the Strait of Hormuz.