U.S. defense secretary visits S. Korea

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrived in South Korea Wednesday on his first official visit for an annual bilateral security meeting. Panetta will meet with his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-jin at the 43rd Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) on Friday and will also pay a courtesy call to President Lee Myung-bak during his three-day stay. Later Wednesday, Panetta held a town hall meeting with some U.S. troops stationed in Seoul. He thanked the U.S. servicemen and servicewomen for their sacrifice and service in a country he called "the frontline." Panetta said the U.S. commitment to South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War and beyond has aided development of South Korea. "We have South Korea that is a nation that has grown strong and independent and really represents the kind of a nation that is an important ally to the U.S. in the Pacific region," the defense secretary said. The SCM is an annual meeting between the defense chiefs of the long-time allies and is hosted alternately by Seoul and Washington. It's the first SCM since Panetta, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), succeeded Robert Gates as defense secretary in July of this year. The defense ministry here has said the two sides will discuss bolstering their defense cooperation against potential North Korean threats and review preparations for the transfer of wartime operational control from the U.S. to South Korea in 2015. Panetta is also expected to highlight the importance of the Asia-Pacific region to the U.S. He recently said the U.S. will not reduce the number of its troops in Asia, despite looming cuts to its defense budget. At his meeting with the U.S. soldiers, Panetta reiterated the U.S. commitment to the Asia-Pacific region. "The main message is that the U.S. is a Pacific nation and we will remain a Pacific power," he said. "This is an important region in the world and the U.S. isn't going anywhere. We will not only maintain our presence but we will strengthen our presence in the Pacific region." The presence of some 28,500 U.S. soldiers here is a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war.