WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta plans to visit South Korea, Indonesia and Japan later this month, his first Asia trip since taking office in July, department officials said Wednesday.
"Secretary Panetta will make his first trip to the Asia-Pacific region Oct. 21-28, making stops in Bali, Indonesia, Tokyo, Japan and Seoul, (South) Korea," Cmdr. Leslie Hull-Ryde, a department spokeswoman, said in a brief press release.
In Seoul, the secretary will hold the annual Security Consultative Meeting with his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-jin, she added.
He is also scheduled to have Cabinet-level discussions in the other nations, Hull-Ryde said.
Panetta, former director of the CIA, succeeded Robert Gates as the U.S. defense chief in July.