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US Pacific Fleet commander Admiral Harry Harris said Friday the US military is putting the newest and best equipment as well as human resources into the Asia-Pacific region to deter regional security threats, highlighting America's commitment to the key strategic region, Voice of Russia reported.

Harris, who was promoted to admiral and assumed command of the US Pacific Fleet in October 2013, paid his first visit to South Korea following his trip to Japan.

"We are putting the best equipment we have forward in the Pacific before we send them anywhere else," Yonhap news agency quoted Harris as saying.

The admiral said the US Navy will soon replace the P-3C Orion with the newest maritime patrol aircraft, the P-8A Poseidon, for its first deployment in Japan.

Harris called this move as a "physical manifestation" and said the US government's budget cut on the military policy will not affect its rebalance commitment toward Asia and the Pacific.

"Maintaining stability, peace and prosperity is what the US rebalance to the Pacific is all about. And a key component to that policy is strengthening our regional alliances and partnerships," said Harris.

He said he is committed to deepening the maritime element of their defense relationships with all of their regional allies and partners, adding that his visit to Seoul was to reassure their South Korean partner of the rebalancing to the Pacific.

Sending commanders and staff with best knowledge in the region is in consideration of the "ideological component" of the rebalancing policy, said the commander, who spent half of his career in the region.

"And I am now serving in Hawaii as the Pacific Fleet commander and this is not an accident," said the commander, who was born in Japan and has a father who fought in the Korean War as a Navy Chief Petty Officer in the 1950s. "I think those are the manifestation of the rebalancing you can just see and they are unmistakable to me."

One of the greatest security threats in the region is North Korea, Harris said, pledging strong joint deterrence capabilities to deter provocations by the communist state with missiles and nuclear weapons.

"We view North Korea as the greatest threat to the region. And we take seriously the implications of that to our alliances and our responsibilities and obligations to South Korea and to civilians," he said. "We watch it very closely. We view the threat as great and serious threat. That is one of the reasons that I am here."