U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth praised Saturday the friendship and trust that his country and Japan have developed while attending a memorial service on Iwo Jima to honor those who died in battle during World War II.
Japan is Hegseth's second stop after the Philippines on his first Asia trip. His visit comes as Beijing has been showing increasingly assertive actions in the disputed South China Sea and following threats by President Donald Trump to impose trade tariffs on the East Asian country, a key U.S. ally.
