U.S. Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., shown here at Shilla Hotel, Seoul, South Korea, April 1, 2026, visited South Korea as part of a bipartisan Congressional Study Group. (Alejandro Carrasquel/Stars and Stripes)
SEOUL, South Korea — Seoul could be essential to U.S. defense production as demands on its military stockpiles wear thin across several conflicts, a U.S. congressman said recently during a trip to South Korea.
Growing pressure on U.S. military production and increasing demand for weapons and equipment are pushing lawmakers to consider allies like South Korea for industrial support, U.S. Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., told Stars and Stripes during an interview Wednesday in Seoul.
South Korean air defense missiles, for example, are “very capable, short range, medium range, long range,” and are already in use in the Middle East, he said.
“Our defense production lines, given the conflict in Ukraine, the conflict that had been happening in Gaza, another conflict with Iran, are pretty stretched thin right now,” Bera said.
Bera is the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific. He visited South Korea with a bipartisan Congressional Study Group.
The delegation also included U.S. Reps. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., Mark Pocan, D-Wis., Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, and Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., according to a Yonhap News Agency report Thursday.
A separate contingent of four U.S. senators was also in South Korea to meet with Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and discuss ways to improve the U.S.-South Korean alliance, Yonhap reported.
The bipartisan delegation of Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., John Curtis, R-Utah, Jacklyn Rosen, D-Nev., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C. The group also stopped in Taiwan and Japan, according to Curtis’ website and a statement from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.
The visits came as South Korea expressed a willingness to take on a larger role in regional security and to expand its defense spending and industrial output, particularly in naval and air defense capabilities.
The House contingent met with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Thursday, according to a report that day by Kyodo News.
“Clearly, the war in Iran is hanging over all of this, you know, what’s a quick resolution look like?” Bera said.
He said the group would also address the planned transfer to South Korea of operational control of allied forces in wartime, energy security and bilateral economic cooperation.
“South Korea does have the ability to produce their own defense industrial base for the protection of the peninsula,” Bera said. “I think this is the place where maybe we can work together to resolve and replenish our stockpiles.”
South Korea’s advanced manufacturing capabilities, specifically in shipbuilding and defense production, are advantages that could help the U.S. forward while strengthening combined readiness across the Indo-Pacific region, he said.
“We recognize the slow pace of U.S. shipbuilding,” Bera said. “We do think Korea can help us revise our shipbuilding capabilities.”
