U.S. Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth held his first phone call with South Korea’s acting Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho on Friday, reaffirming their commitment to strengthening their “ironclad” bilateral defense ties against North Korea, according to South Korea’s defense ministry.

The call comes as South Korea is grappling with a leadership vacuum in multiple government departments, including the defense ministry, following December’s martial law crisis. The leadership vacuum raises concerns in Seoul about the lack of South Korean officials for newly-inaugurated Trump administration officials to meet.

“Secretary Hegseth reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to South Korea’s defense and promised to