By Lee Tae-hoon
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will arrive in Seoul Wednesday for the annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) with his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-jin, officials said Tuesday.
They said Panetta will likely meet with President Lee Myung-bak, and visit the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command and Seoul National Cemetery during his three day stay here prior to holding the SCM on Friday.
Panetta, former director of the CIA, succeeded Robert Gates as the U.S. defense chief in July.
Observers say Panetta may pressure Kim to take a more active role in defending the country as the U.S. defense budget faces cuts of up to $350 billion over the next decade.
They say Washington might mull reductions in its spending for overseas military operations, including in South Korea, due to an uncertain economic climate.
Panetta, however, denied claims that Washington may slash its defense budget in the coming years or that it would diminish its military presence and operations in Asia during his trip to Bali, Indonesia Sunday.
“Our goal is to try to strengthen the alliances that are there and to try to ensure that we build new partnerships to try to improve the security in that region," he said.
On North Korea, Panetta said an ongoing father-to-son power succession process is feared to raise the temptation for the communist regime to seek additional provocations.
"I think we always have to be prepared, from a security point of view, to deal with the likelihood that as succession develops in North Korea, that it could lead to greater provocations," Panetta said.