US defence secretary visits South Korea as the region faces myriad challenges

USDefenceSecretaryMark Esper met with seniorSouthKorean leaders on Friday amid a series ofregionalchallengesranging from a bitter trade row between Seoul and Tokyo to the cost ofUS troops stationed inSouthKorea.

Esper, on his first international trip since being confirmed asdefencesecretary, arrived inSouthKoreaon Thursday evening amid an escalating trade feud between two of Washington's main Asian allies.

While the trade issue, which threatensregional intelligence sharing, came up in his meetings in Seoul, Esper reiterated the importance of theSouthKorean US alliance and said the allies would continue to coordinate on NorthKorea.

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In his opening remarks of the meeting with Esper,SouthKoreanDefenseMinister Jeong Kyeong-doo said Japan's export restrictions againstSouthKoreaare "causing adverse effects onSouthKorea-Japan relations and security cooperation amongSouthKorea, theUS, and Japan".

SouthKoreahas said it was exploring all options in a bitter trade dispute with Japan, including scrapping an intelligence-sharing pact.

The accord, the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), facilitates a three-way intelligence gathering with Washington, which is crucial in fending off NorthKorea's nuclear and missile threats. The deal is automatically renewed annually on Aug. 24.

Relations betweenSouthKoreaand Japan are at their worst in decades, with the trade row rooted in a long-running dispute over compensation forSouthKoreans forced to work for Japanese firms during World War Two.

Esper arrived in Seoul a day afterUS President Donald Trump saidSouthKoreaagreed to 'pay a lot more' to shoulder the costs required for the upkeep of 28,500US troops in SouthKoreaand that talks are underway to discussthe issue.

But a spokesman atSouthKorea's foreign ministry told reporters on Thursday that the negotiations have not yet begun, and a ministry official said on Friday that Esper did not mention the costs during his meeting with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-Wha, according to Yonhap.

The trip comes after NorthKorearecently carried out a series of missile tests and with de-nuclearisation talks between the United States and NorthKoreastalled.

"At a time when the security environment is so severe, it is very meaningful to discussthe security situation on theKorean Peninsula and theSouthKorea-US alliance," Jeong said.

Noting thatSouthKoreaand the United States are working together to denuclearise NorthKorea, Jeong praised "President Trump's amazing imagination that transcends conventions" for bringing about his meeting with NorthKorean leader Kim Jong Un at the inter-Korean border in June.

On Tuesday, Esper said the United States would not overreact to the short-range missile launches by NorthKoreaand would keep the door open to talks with Pyongyang. He also added that, despite complaints by NorthKorea, there was no plan to alter future joint military drills with Seoul.

Esper's visit comes asSouthKorean President Moon Jae-in tapped a seasoned diplomat as the new ambassador to Washington on Friday.
SouthKoreais Esper's last stop on a trip that has also includedvisitsto Australia, Japan, and Mongolia.