U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta will arrive in South Korea on Wednesday afternoon ahead of Friday's 43rd Security Consultative Meeting (SCM).

During his three-day stay, Panetta will meet with South Korea’s Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and President Lee Myung-bak as well as with U.S. soldiers stationed in South Korea.

This week's visit is Panetta's first to South Korea since he assumed the post of defense secretary in July.

During the Security Consultative Meeting in Seoul, South Korea and the U.S. will review their military readiness toward addressing North Korean provocations.

They will also discuss progress in a project to relocate U.S. military bases in South Korea and the progress of a plan to transfer wartime operational command from the U.S. to South Korea.