stealth bombers and cyber warfare units, to counter threats posed by the likes of North Korea.
"Our newest and best things are
being deployed to this part of the world," Carter said in Seoul -- the
second leg of a visit to the two key US military allies in the region,
Japan and South Korea.
The
Pentagon chief said his talks with South Korean Defence Minister Han
Min-Koo had included a "candid assessment" of the threat posed to the
Korean peninsula -- "and the US homeland" -- by North Korea's nuclear
weapons and ballistic missile programme.
"As
it demonstrated once again with the recent missile launches, North
Korea is intent on continued provocation," he told reporters.
The
North fired two surface-to-air missiles off its west coast on Tuesday,
just as Carter arrived in Japan on the first leg of his tour.
Earlier,
it had test fired a series of short range ballistic missiles to express
its anger with annual South Korean-US military exercises which
Pyongyang condemns as rehearsals for invasion.
The
United States has close to 30,000 troops permanently stationed in South
Korea and would assume operational command of both armed forces in the
event of a conflict with the North.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty.
- Tailor-made weaponry -
Stressing
that military deterrence and readiness were "at a premium" on the
divided peninsula, Carter said the US was investing in "advanced
capabilities .... tailored to this dynamic security environment."
Asked
to expand, he cited new stealth bombers, F-35 stealth fighters and
highly developed cyber warfare systems that could be rotationally
deployed in the Asian theatre.
North
Korea has an advanced cyber warfare capability which it has wielded in
damaging hacking assaults on South Korean financial institutions.
The
FBI has accused the North of being behind a devastating cyber attack on
Sony Pictures, the studio behind the Hollywood film "The Interview" -- a
comedy about a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim
Jong-Un.
At
the same time, he said his talks in Seoul had not touched on the
sensitive issue of a missile defence system, known as THAAD, that
Washington is looking to deploy in South Korea.
China and Russia are both vocally opposed to the THAAD deployment, warning that it would undermine regional peace and stability.
It's
a tricky issue for Seoul which must weigh the priorities of its most
important military ally, the US, against its largest trade partner,
China.
Carter insisted THAAD was not discussed in Seoul because the system was still in production."We're not at the point yet where we would begin discussing its deployment with anybody," he said.
- Tokyo-Seoul rift -
Carter's two-nation trip was partly aimed at underlining President Barack Obama's commitment to a US strategic shift to Asia -- a move complicated by tensions between its allies in Seoul and Tokyo.
Washington
has pushed hard for the two neighbours to put simmering territorial and
historical disputes behind them, and Obama even hosted a strained
three-way leadership summit in March last year.
But relations remain extremely frosty, and Carter said there was only so much the US could do.
"We hope for healing and reconciliation, but it is not for the United States to interpose itself between the parties," he said.
After
the press conference, Carter visited a memorial to the 46 seamen who
died in the 2010 sinking of the South Korean naval corvette Cheonan.
A
South Korean-led investigation involving a team of international
experts concluded the ship was sunk by a North Korean submarine torpedo,
but Pyongyang has always denied involvement.
Source:AFP
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