U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Monday he will discuss ways to bolster joint defense capabilities with South Korea to cope with "an increasingly dangerous and provocative North Korea" when he visits Seoul later this week.
  

Carter made the remark during a speech at the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University, outlining his trip to South Korea and Japan, designed to cement alliances with the two countries in a region marked by China's rise and threats from North Korea.
  

"In Korea, I will work with my counterpart to reinforce deterrence and improve capabilities on the Peninsula to counteract an increasingly dangerous and provocative North Korea," Carter said during the speech during a stopover on the way to Japan.
  

The trip, which will take Carter to Japan on April 7-9 and then South Korea on April 9-11, is also his first bilateral overseas trip since he took office in February, except for a visit to U.S. troops in Afghanistan shortly after being sworn in.
  

That demonstrates the importance Carter places on Asia, officials said. The U.S. defense chief is scheduled to make his second trip to Asia next month to attend the annual regional defense ministers' talks, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, and a bilateral visit to India.
  

While in Seoul, Carter is scheduled to hold his first face-to-face talks with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo and other senior officials. Pentagon officials said Carter will reiterate the strong U.S. commitment to South Korea's security.
  

Carter's trip to South Korea has drawn keen attention because of the possibility of him raising the need for deploying the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile defense system to South Korea. But U.S. officials said they have decided not to bring up the issue this time.
  

South Korea has been badly divided over whether to accept a THAAD battery, with supporters saying the deployment would help better protect against North Korea's ballistic missile threats, and opponents claiming it would unnecessarily inflame tensions with China and Russia.
  

About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to help deter North Korea.
  

In Japan, Carter plans to meet with senior Japanese officials to discuss the defense strategic guidelines review and a number of other matters of mutual interest ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Washington at the end of April.
  

"We will be working to complete a new set of Guidelines on Defense Cooperation -- the foundational document for our alliance  -- to allow us to take our cooperation to a whole new level and into new areas like space and cyberspace," Carter said at the McCain Institute speech.
  

South Korea and Japan are two of the strongest U.S. allies in Asia. Washington has sought to increase trilateral security cooperation with the two countries in part to keep China's growing influence in check, but such efforts have been stymied by historical tensions between Seoul and Tokyo.
  

Carter stressed the importance of such three-way cooperation with Seoul and Tokyo, hailing the military information sharing agreement that the three countries signed in late December, saying the deal is the first of its kind.
  

Carter said the U.S. an other countries are "deeply concerned" about some Chinese activities.
  

"Its opaque defense budget, its actions in cyberspace, and its behavior in places like the South and East China Seas raise a number of serious questions. And these are concerns we raise with our Chinese counterparts on a regular basis," Cater said.
  

"The U.S. and China are not allies, but we don't have to be adversaries. A strong, constructive U.S.-China relationship is essential for global security and prosperity. But our relationship will be complex as we continue to both compete and cooperate," he said.
  

Carter also he rejects the "zero-sum thinking that China's gain is our loss."
  

"There is another scenario in which everyone wins and it is a continuation of the decades of peace and stability anchored by a strong American role, in which all Asia-Pacific countries continue to rise and prosper. This is the scenario we seek in the ongoing rebalance," he said. (Yonhap)