Top Pentagon official due in Seoul amid inter-Korean tension

South Korea’s Defense Minister Jan Min-koo (Yonhap)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Christine Wormuth will visit South Korea this week to discuss North Korea and alliance issues, the Defense Ministry announced Thursday.

She is scheduled to meet Defense Minister Han Min-koo on Friday at his office in Seoul.

Among issues to be discussed is North Korea’s recent land mine attack in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that left one South Korean soldier on patrol duty without his legs and another without one.

The incident has heightened military tensions on the peninsula. In a retaliatory step, the South resumed a loudspeaker propaganda campaign across the border.

The North has kept mum on the land mine assault while threatening to deal sternly with the South and the U.S. for their regular joint defense drills. The 10-day Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise is to start Monday.

Wormuth’s visit to Seoul was planned ahead of the land mine case, as it is part of a routine regional tour, a ministry official said.

She will also visit the U.S. Embassy, the headquarters of the U.S. Forces Korea and the truce village of Panmunjom, according to the official.

It would be her first trip to South Korea since assuming the post in June last year.

She plans to head to Japan on Saturday after a three-day stay here.

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