Hegseth meets with South Korean counterpart along DMZ, Ukraine receives more U.S.-made Patriot systems, and need for support in military communities grow as government shutdown continues.
1. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas on Monday as he began a two-day visit to ally South Korea for security talks. Hegseth and South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back received a briefing from military officials at Observation Post Ouellette, a site near the military demarcation line that past U.S. presidents, including Donald Trump during his first term in 2019, had visited to peer across the border into North Korea and meet with American soldiers. Hegseth and Ahn also visited the Panmunjom border village, where an armistice was signed to pause the 1950-53 Korean War. Ahn’s ministry said the visit “reaffirmed the firm combined defense posture and close coordination” between the allies. Hegseth did not mention North Korea, which has ignored Washington and Seoul’s calls for dialogue in recent years while accelerating the expansion of its nuclear weapons and missile programs.
2. Ukraine has received more American-made Patriot air defense systems to help it counter Russia’s daily barrages, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as Russian drones killed a man and injured five of his family members, including two children, in the latest nighttime attack. Russia’s relentless pounding of urban areas behind the front line following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago has killed thousands of civilians. It has also targeted the energy supply to deny civilians heat and running water in winter, as well as disrupt industrial production of Ukraine’s newly developed drones and missiles. The sophisticated Patriot systems are the most effective weapon against Russian missiles. Zelenskyy has pleaded with Western partners to provide more of them, but production limitations and the need to maintain stockpiles have slowed their delivery.
3. Dolce Garcia didn’t know for certain if her husband’s paycheck from the Army would come through this week as expected. Feeling anxious and far from her family in Las Vegas, she said she’s been worrying about their rent and buying diapers for her almost 2-year-old son, so she waited in line Thursday at Armed Services YMCA food pantry where she grabbed Pop-Tarts, mini raviolis and carrots from the shelves. “It’s just because of the shutdown,” Garcia said of coming to the food pantry. With Congress unable to come to an agreement by Oct. 1 to fund the federal government, resources are slowly draining from federal accounts. Federal workers are not getting paychecks, though many are still required to go to work. Medicaid has said it’s beginning to run out of funding. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was set to stop payments Nov. 1, but two federal judges on Friday ruled that the federal government must continue to fund SNAP, at least partially, with contingency funds. The Trump administration is expected to appeal.
4. The United States and the Philippines are forming a new military task force, to be led by a general or admiral, aimed at deterring aggression in the South China Sea. The task force was announced Friday by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ meeting of defense ministers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Hegseth and Teodoro did not say where the task force will be based or when it will begin operating. The unit will be led by a brigadier general or rear admiral and include about 60 service members, according to a fleet statement provided to Stars and Stripes Monday.
5. The U.S. cannot unilaterally carry out any military operation in Nigeria over its claims of Christian persecution in the West African country, a Nigerian presidential spokesman told The Associated Press Sunday. Such military threat from Donald Trump is based on misleading reports and appears to be part of “Trump’s style of going forceful in order to force a sit-down and have a conversation,” according to Daniel Bwala, a spokesman for Nigerian President Bola Tinubu. Bwala was responding to Trump’s comment on Saturday that he has ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, over alleged Christian persecution in the country.
- Security