Hegseth, a former Fox News personality, was taking questions from Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) when she challenged him to share his knowledge about even just one member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.

From the arrest of South Korea’s Yoon to a Japanese pop star’s sex scandal, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting.

A senator told Hegseth: "I suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations."

In a heated Senate confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, Sen. Tammy Duckworth grilled the proposed defense secretary over the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, asking him if he could name one member and how many countries were in the bloc.

During his confirmation hearing, Trump’s Defense Secretary nominee couldn’t name a single member of the Southeast Asian bloc.

Pete Hegseth's lawyer said he "performed superbly" in his appearance before senators amid criticism after he appeared not to know what the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth put Pete Hegseth’s foreign policy chops to the test during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday as President-elect Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon. The Illinois Democrat asked Hegseth to name one country in ASEAN,

Only a few days later, Hegseth was nominated by Donald Trump to serve as defense secretary, and he has since tried to backtrack on that statement. Presumably, Trump did not have a problem with his views when he announced the nomination, having been a fan of Hegseth’s for many years.

Hegseth, a former Fox News host and decorated veteran, is one of the most controversial figures ever nominated to be secretary of defense.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, grilling President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for defense secretary over whether he had the “breadth and depth of knowledge” needed to lead international negotiations, asked Pete Hegseth if could name one member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,

Pete Hegseth could hardly be more suited to be Donald ... Hegseth started to talk about South Korea, Japan and Australia – none of which are in the 10-member organization that includes two ...

Hegseth responded at the heated Senate confirmation hearing that he couldn’t tell Duckworth the exact number of ASEAN nations, but that “I know we have allies in South Korea and Japan in AUKUS (a pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S.) with Australia.”