The U.S. Department of War and the Republic of Korea (ROK) Ministry of National Defense held the 28th Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) on May 12-13, 2026, in Washington.
Mr. John Noh, assistant secretary of war for Indo-Pacific security affairs, and Dr. Jay Finch, acting deputy assistant secretary of war for East Asia, led the U.S. delegation. Deputy minister for national defense policy, Mr. Kim Hong-Cheol, led the ROK delegation. Key senior U.S. and ROK defense and foreign affairs officials also participated in the dialogue.
During the meeting, both sides assessed the overall defense cooperation of the U.S.-ROK Alliance, and exchanged perspectives on policy directions that enhance the Alliance's combined defense posture. The two sides shared the desire to actively pursue cooperation to implement the areas of defense cooperation within the Joint Fact Sheet between the U.S. and the ROK presidents last November and the 57th Security Consultative Meeting Joint Communique.
They assessed that the KIDD laid a foundation for practical cooperation to further solidify the Alliance and looked forward to further deepening cooperation to achieve shared security goals on the Korean Peninsula and across the Indo-Pacific region.
