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.
  

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 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."
  

Kim, however, refused to comment on the Yonhap report on Wednesday that said Washington decided not to bring up the THAAD issue during Carter's trip after discussions with senior leaders at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul and military leaders on the peninsula and at the Pentagon. The report cited a U.S. official who declined to be identified due to the matter's sensitivity.
  

Speculation has grown that the U.S. secretary could officially raise the issue for the first time. Washington has expressed its willingness to deploy the battery here to better defend South Korea from the North's security threats and to guarantee the safety of around 28,000 U.S. troops stationed here and their families. It's a move that sparks concerns and opposition from neighboring countries, mainly China and Russia.
  

Last week, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey said he had "productive conversations" with his South Korean counterpart, Adm. Choi Yun-hee, in Seoul on their progress in building an integrated air and missile-defense system, though officials here said THAAD was not on the agenda.
  

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.
  

Also on the table during the planned Seoul-Washington meeting will be follow-up measures to smoothly push for the transfer of the wartime operational control of South Korean troops from Washington to Seoul, according to the ministry.
  

In November, the allies agreed to delay the transition of wartime operational control of South Korean troops from Washington to Seoul until South Korea is capable enough to counter threats from Pyongyang. The two sides are eyeing the mid-2020s as the time frame for the handover.
  

Carter and Han also "plan to visit the Navy's 2nd Fleet Command to pay tribute to sailors killed by the sinking of the warship Cheonan."
  

On March 26, 2010, the 1,200-ton Cheonan warship exploded and sank in the Yellow Sea, killing 46 sailors. A South Korean-led international investigation found that the North torpedoed the ship, though Pyongyang denied its involvement. The hull of the vessel is on display in the Command headquarters in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul.
  

"The U.S. has expressed a strong desire to visit the command to see the ship," a ministry official here said. "The ministers’ visit also aims at showing their staunch willingness to deter and counter any provocations by North Korea."
  

No official press conference is planned, though the ministers are considering giving brief comments to media after their meeting, according to the spokesman Kim. (Yonhap)