US Defense Secretary James Mattis plans to travel to Japan and South Korea next month on his first trip as the Pentagon's new chief, a spokesman said today.
"General Mattis plans to visit Japan and Korea in early February," Pentagon spokesman Gary Ross said.
In choosing Japan and South Korea for his first overseas visit, Mattis is singling out two longstanding allies worried about the direction of US policy in their region under President Donald Trump.
During the campaign, Trump threatened to withdraw US forces from the two countries if they did not step up their financial support.
Tensions are also rising with China over its moves to assert sovereignty in disputed areas of the South China Sea, and over North Korean threats to test an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking the US mainland.
In another jarring note for the region, Trump this week withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade agreement signed by former president Barack Obama but never ratified by the US Congress.
The agreement was signed by 12 countries bordering the Pacific. In addition to the United States, signers included Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
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