<Anchor>

US Secretary of Defense came to Korea in a series of meetings with President Moon Jae-in and the people of our government. It is our government's explanation that there was no story of defense contributions, but Trump's policy is expected to increase significantly.

I am reporter Kim Ah-young.

<Reporter>

New Minister of Defense Mark Esper visited Korea for the first time since he took office.

First of all, I emphasized the importance of the US-ROK alliance in traditional terms like iron barrel and core axis.

[Mark Esper / US Secretary of Defense: We reaffirm that the US-ROK alliance is like an iron barrel. The US-ROK Alliance is a key pillar of peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.]

Mr. Esper visited the Foreign Ministry, which is responsible for negotiating contributions in the morning, the Department of Defense, his counterpart, and the Blue House in the afternoon.

But the US defense minister's visit to South Korea last month, followed by President Trump's blatant pressure on the visit of US President John Bolton last month, is an observation that the discussions could have been under way.

At that time, the Blue House dismissed the report saying it requested unreasonable charges from the Security Officer, saying that Bolton spent US $ 4.8 billion a year on US troops in Korea. It is detected every day.

[Otto Morgans / US State Department spokesman: President Trump has been incredibly sympathetic. The President wants all countries to share mutual defense.]

[Shin Beom-cheol / Asan Institute for Policy and Unification Center: I think you can see it as an overwhelm before starting negotiations. It's to make it look like we got the maximum and got the stall even though we made concessions. .]

Mr. Esper has repeatedly cited the need for an extension to the ROK-Japan military information security agreement, mentioning freedom of navigation, and also delivering the message of dispatching Hormuz seas.

(Video coverage: Kim Seong-il, Video editing: Lee Seung-jin)