US defence secretary to visit South Korea

The defense secretary of the United States will visit South Korea next week for talks on pending security issues including how to counter North Korea's threats, Seoul's defense ministry said Friday.
During his three-day visit starting April 9, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter "is scheduled to meet with South Korea's Defense Minister Han Min-koo to discuss key security issues including how to strengthen joint deterrence against North Korea's nuclear and missiles threat," the ministry said in a statement carried by Yonhap news agency.
Seoul is the second leg of his two-nation trip that will also take him to Japan from April 7-9, the ministry added. It is Carter's first trip to Northeast Asia since taking office last month.
Asked if the ministers will deal with one of the most controversial pending issues -- the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system -- during the meeting, ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said, "THAAD is not included on the agenda as of now ... Discussions on details are still under way between the two sides." THAAD is designed to shoot down short, medium and intermediate ballistic missiles at a higher altitude in their terminal phase using a hit-to-kill method.