U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Wednesday called for an early implementation of Japan's plan to increase defence spending, but said he had made no specific demand on the scale of the increase in a meeting with his Japanese counterpart.

Japan's Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro has met with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is now visiting Japan, for the first time since assuming his post.

President Donald Trump and other senior U.S. leaders are on tour in Asia this week affirming alliances against the backdrop of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in South Korea. Ahead of the conference at Gyeongju,

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is set to hold talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi in Tokyo on Wednesday, as Japan strives to fortify its defence posture and strengthen its decades-old alliance with the United States.

U.S. Forces Japan has all the personnel it needs to become a joint force headquarters, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will meet with Japan’s recently elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and new Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi this week during their visits to Asia.

Self-designated Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was met with an excruciatingly awkward silence as he tried to act as a hype man for President Donald Trump during a speech. Hegseth took to the stage just before Trump on board the USS George Washington at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan on Tuesday,

He said he had made no specific demand on the scale of increase in Tokyo's defence spending.     Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

The Defense Department "carried out a lethal kinetic strike on yet another narco-trafficking vessel," the defense secretary said.

U.S. troops with facial hair reportedly have been barred from attending an event with Hegseth this week at Camp Humphreys in South Korea. The restriction for troops was announced in an email purportedly sent by the 51st Fighter Wing at Osan Air Base in South Korea and was posted Sunday to an unofficial Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page.

Visiting U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth pressed his Japanese counterpart on Oct. 29 in talks at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo to speedily increase the nation's defense spending, as promised to the United States.