Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, is to visit South Korea later this week to preside over a replacement ceremony for the commander of American troops here, according to South Korean Ministry of Defense on Tuesday.

Gen. Burwell B. Bell, the commander of U.S. ground troops in Europe, is to succeed Gen. Leon J. LaPorte, who has headed the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) since May 2002, in a change-of-command ceremony slated for Friday, the ministry said in a statement.

Except for the attendance of the ceremony, Pace is also scheduled to meet his South Korean counterpart Gen. Rhee Sang-hee and Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung during his two-day visit here which starts on Thursday, the statement said.

The meetings are expected to focus on the half-century Seoul- Washington alliance and changes in the regional security environment, it said.

Pace is also to visit the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom, a frontline South Korean Army unit and a U.S. firing range.

Panmumjom, or the Joint Security Area, is an oval-shape area on the western part of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The U.S. currently has 30,000 troops in South Korea.

Source: Xinhua