U. S. President Donald Trump’s defense secretary, James Mattis, will head to South Korea and Japan later this week for his first visit to Asia. The choice of the two Northeast Asian treaty allies is a deliberate move by the Trump administration to bolster U. S. alliances early on.
Mattis will visit Seoul first on Thursday and Friday. After that, he will head to Tokyo. His Asia visit is expected to last for four days overall.
Mattis’ agenda in Seoul will focus on broadly reassuring South Korea of the United States’ ongoing commitment to the alliance. On January 29, Trump spoke with South Korea’s prime minister, Hwang Kyo-ahn, who is acting as president after former President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment following a political scandal.
According to a White House readout of the call between Hwang and Trump, the U. S. president reiterated the an “ironclad commitment” to the alliance and specifically underlined “the provision of extended deterrence, using the full range of military capabilities.
