U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday praised South Korea’s commitment to higher defense spending and taking greater responsibility for its own conventional defense, but did not mention North Korea once during his opening address or subsequent question-and-answer session at the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Seoul’s defense commitments received direct attention among other U.S. regional partners during Hegseth’s address at the first plenary session of the Asia-focused security summit in Singapore.

The defense secretary’s speech otherwise focused on urging U.S. allies to increase defense spending and burden-sharing while prioritizing military strength and strategic deterrence over what he described as “performative outrage,” “empty