US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter to visit Seoul

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter will make his first official visit to South Korea later today (Thursday).

During his three-day trip, Carter will meet with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-Koo on Friday to discuss strengthening joint capabilities against North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles.

The two officials will also discuss exploring options for a smooth transition of wartime operational control of South Korean troops from Washington to Seoul. But Seoul officials have said that the deployment of the advanced U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system to South Korea, an attention-drawing issue, is not on the agenda.

Next week, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are set to hold their vice foreign minister-level talks in Washington D.C, according to a senior Seoul government official. In a separate meeting, deputy defense minister-level officials from the three countries will also have security dicussions next week.

Meanwhile, the South Korean defense ministry said that North Korea on Wednesday test-fired two short-range missiles into the West Sea.