He will also travel to Palau for a series of strategic engagements on the expanding relationship with that critically important Compact of Free Association (COFA) state.

Secretary Del Toro will meet with government officials in ROK and Japan to reaffirm the DON’s long-standing partnership and iron clad commitment to each. He will engage with key shipbuilding industry executives in the ROK and Japan and will tour the world’s most technologically advanced and productive shipyards to observe the power of integrated commercial and naval shipbuilding and its potential for reviving America’s maritime industrial shipbuilding capabilities and capacity.

“We're extremely thankful to both the ROK and Japan for being the great allies that they are,” said Secretary Del Toro. “We have a responsibility to have these conversations now to see how we can advance our interoperability and leverage the capabilities and capacities of our collective domestic industrial capabilities in peacetime or if necessary, during conflict.”

The visit to three states critical to the protection of the maritime commons is part of Secretary Del Toro’s Maritime Statecraft efforts to revive the maritime power of the nation’s shipbuilding and maintenance. It comes on the heels of a visit to New York City, Feb. 22, where he announced the creation of the Maritime Economic Deterrence Executive Council (MEDEC), which is focused on mitigating adversarial foreign investment risks, innovation and technology.

The trip aligns with the Pentagon’s recently released National Defense Industrial Strategy, which calls for venture capital and new ideas to revive the U.S. industrial base.