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SEOUL — U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Friday his country is not ready to begin discussions on the possible deployment of its advanced missile defense system on the Korean Peninsula.

“THAAD was not on the agenda today … This is the program that is in production in the U.S.,” Carter told a joint press conference here with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo.

Citing a series of steps to be taken before the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery, Carter said, “We are not at a point yet of determining where it might be suitably deployed in the future … We are not a point where we will begin discussions with anyone around the world.”

Whether the U.S. chief will bring up the issue during his first face-to-face meeting with Han has drawn key attention here amid heated controversy at home and abroad with opposition from China and Russia.

Washington has expressed its willingness to deploy the battery here to better protect South Korea and some 28,000 U.S. troops from North Korea’s threats, though officials of the two sides have said no official consultations or decisions have taken place on the matter.

As an integral part of the U.S.-led missile defense system, 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.

Carter instead stressed Washington’s plan to deploy its cutting-edge weapons in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Our newest things, best things are being deployed in this part of the world,” he said, citing such examples as new stealth bombers and new classes of naval vessels. “That is the biggest part of our rebalance (to Asia).

Speaking of the regional history row between South Korea and Japan, Carter said the U.S. “is hopeful for healing and reconciliation.”

“We have a lot of respect for historical legacy issues in this region and we think it’s important,” the top Pentagon official said, while making it clear that the U.S. will not “interpose itself between the parties here.”

He also watered down his call on the U.S., South Korea and Japan to “look forward to the future” as “the potential gains of cooperation … outweigh yesterday’s tension and today’s politics.”

He made the remarks in an interview with Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun ahead of his Asian trip, which flared up strong opposition from South Koreans who still have painful memories of Japan’s harsh 1910-45 colonial rule.

“In speaking of the future, I was referring to the agreements to share information in the future among the three militaries, which I think has a great promise for the security of all of us,” Carter said, stressing that he “was not referring to the past.”

Late last year, the three countries signed an arrangement to share classified information on North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, but the long-strained Seoul-Tokyo relations have hampered Washington’s efforts to strengthen trilateral cooperation with its two key Asian allies in the region marked by the rising China and threats from North Korea.

Carter arrived here on Thursday as the second leg of his first trip to the Asia-Pacific region since taking office last month. He flew from Japan after wrapping up a three-day visit there.