Secretary of War Pete Hegseth met with South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back on Monday at the demilitarized zone (DMZ), the heavily-defended border between North and South Korea.

Ahn said Hegseth’s visit to the DMZ had “symbolic and declarative significance” because it demonstrated “the strength of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and the combined defense posture.”

Hegseth is the first U.S. defense secretary to visit the DMZ in the past eight years. His itinerary included meeting with American and South Korean forces stationed along the border.

The DMZ, which is roughly 150 miles long and 2.5 miles wide, includes a small parcel of neutral territory near the village of Panmunjom called the Joint Security Area (JSA). The JSA is where President Donald Trump met with North Kor

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