US 'very much' supports S. Korea doing more to lead conventional defense against NK: US official

YOKOTA AIR BASE — The United States "very much" supports South Korea doing more to lead conventional defense against North Korea, a senior U.S. defense official said Tuesday, as the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung hopes to retake wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington within its term. The official made the remarks in a press briefing as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back are set to discuss the OPCON transition efforts when they meet for the two countries' annual defense ministerial talks, called the Security Consultative Meeting, in Seoul on Nov. 4. "We very much support the ROK doing more to lead its conventional defense in deterrence against the DPRK. We support those efforts," the official said during the briefing to the press traveling with Hegseth on his trip to Asia that includes stops in Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam and South Korea. ROK and DPRK are short for the official names of South Korea and North Korea, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, respectively. The officWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times