Kerry, Carter expected to visit S. Korea in near future: sources

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter are expected to visit South Korea in the near future, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.

Kerry is expected to visit Seoul as part of a regional trip that will also likely take him to Japan and China. In each stop, the top American diplomat is expected to discuss the planned visits to the U.S. by the leaders of the three countries.

Carter is also expected to visit Japan as well, the sources said.

Carter's trip is meaningful in that Asia will be the destination of his first bilateral visits since taking office last month, except for his trip to U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

In Seoul, he is expected to reaffirm the U.S. security commitment to the Asian ally.

His visit is also expected to be watched closely as South Korea is divided over whether to allow the U.S. to deploy a THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile defense battery to the country.

Supports say the deployment would help better protect against North Korea's ballistic missile threats, while opponents claim it would inflame tensions with China and Russia as they see the move as a threat to their security interests.

South Korean and U.S. officials have said there have been no official consultations on the issue.

Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday that nothing has been decided yet on the visits.

"Currently, nothing has been decided yet," Noh Kwang-il, spokesman at the foreign ministry, told a press briefing.

"But given President (Park Geun-hye) is scheduled to visit the U.S. later this year, we hope that there will be further reciprocal visits by high-level officials between Seoul and Washington," he added. (Yonhap)