South Korea held back-to-back defense cooperation meetings this week in Washington and Manila, signaling a broad effort to strengthen military and arms-industry partnerships across the Indo-Pacific. In Washington, Vice Defense Minister Lee Doo-hee convened a conference with around 120 participants — including senior US State Department officials — to advance bilateral cooperation on shipbuilding, advanced weapons systems, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and manned-unmanned teaming. Separately, Seoul's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) met with Philippine military counterparts in Manila to expand logistics and maintenance cooperation, with nine South Korean defense firms — including Korea Aerospace Industries and Hanwha Aerospace — in attendance; the Philippines already operates a range of Korean-made hardware, including FA-50 fighter jets and multiple naval vessels.