U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that Washington's security commitment to South Korea will remain unchanged even after the Asian country takes back full operational control of its military by 2012. The planned transition will not undermine the closeness of the alliance, in which the U.S. has «an unshakable commitment» to South Korea, Gates said in a speech at a change of command ceremony in Seoul. Gates was visiting South Korea on the final leg of an Asian trip that included stops in Guam, Singapore and Thailand, the Associated Press reported. Earlier in the day, Gates met South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee and agreed to cooperate to bolster their countries' military alliance, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement. Gates told a press conference later Tuesday he and Lee discussed a broad range of issues including the need for the alliance to now look beyond the Korean peninsula and engage more in both regional and global issues. Gates said he appreciated South Korea's troop deployments for peacekeeping and reconstruction operations in Lebanon and Iraq, according to the ministry statement.
