U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for policy Elbridge Colby will visit South Korea from Sunday to Tuesday and discuss military alliance issues before traveling on to Japan, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported on Friday.
His talks with South Korean officials will likely touch on Seoul’s proposed increase in defense spending and the modernization of the two countries’ military alliance, Yonhap said, citing an unnamed source.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry declined to confirm the report, saying questions should be directed to the U.S. side.
Colby, the Pentagon’s top defense and foreign policymaker, leads the implementation of U.S. defense strategy.
The two countries have been discussing President Donald Trump’s push for U.S. allies to shoulder a greater share of their defense cost and Washington’s realignment of its military footprint to ready its troops stationed around the world for wider missions.
South Korea hosts about 28,500 U.S. troops in combined defense against North Korea’s military threat. Seoul raised its defense budget by 7.5% for this year.
