US may deploy new military assets

By Jun Ji-hye and Joint Press Corps

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Thursday that many newer military capabilities his country is investing in will be deployed on the Korean Peninsula, citing that it is one of the most dangerous places in the Asia-Pacific region.

“We are building new stealth fighters, new stealthy bombers and several new ship classes, all equipment and so forth because this is a very demanding theater,” Carter said on the first day of his visit here.

“We have some of the most demanding kinds of situations and potential military situations also out here… You will see a lot of new stuff showing up here first. And that is deliberate and that is appropriate,” he said referring to the Washington’s much-publicized policy of a “rebalance” toward the Asia-Pacific region.

He made the remarks during a town hall meeting with 200 troops of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) at Osan Air Base in Seongtan, Pyeongtaek County, Gyeonggi Province.

This is his first visit to South Korea since he took the office in February.

Carter stressed the importance of Asia, saying half of the people in the world live there and are responsible for half of the global economy.

With regard to the U.S. military’s rotational deployment system, he assessed it was working out well.

“I think it is a better overall system for managing particularly in the Army,” he said. “Readiness is at a high premium here on the Korean Peninsula… (The system) is a good way of managing forces and keeping people sharp. It is good for all of our allies and partners.”

Upon his arrival at about 3 p.m. at the air base, Carter was greeted by U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert; USFK Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti; 7th Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy; and South Korean Air Force Operations Commander Park Jae-bock.

Washington’s secretary of defense is scheduled to meet with his South Korean counterpart Han Min-koo today after paying a courtesy call on President Park Geun-hye.

Drawing key attention is whether Carter will bring up the possible deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on the peninsula, though officials of the two countries have said the issue would not be included in the agenda of the talks.

Eyes are on the possible discussion in particular as the allies have disagreed about whether North Korea is capable of building a nuclear weapon small enough to fit on its new KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and launch it at the U.S. mainland.

A day ahead of Carter’s visit, Pentagon officials commented that they believe Pyongyang has the ability to put a nuclear weapon on a KN-08 and launch it at the U.S.

Seoul’s defense ministry played down such remarks, saying it did not believe that the North has completed development as it has yet to test-fire the missile, which is required before operational deployment.

While the allies have been involved in a series of exchanges, some critics here have argued that Washington was deliberately sparking controversy over the KN-08 ICBM ahead of Carter’s visit in a bid to deploy THAAD on the peninsula.

They say Carter is expected to give the system a hard sell during his visit as part of Washington’s drive for deployment.

Meanwhile, the North test-fired two KN-06 short-range missiles off its west coast, Tuesday, in an apparent protest to Carter’s visit.

Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye