CAMP GREAVES, South Korea — Clad in an Army field jacket, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger on Wednesday praised the vigilance of U.S. servicemembers and criticized politicians who favor cutting defense spending.

Weinberger, in Korea to participate in the 18th annual Consultative Meeting between the United States and South Korea, visited the soldiers at the headquarters of the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry, about 11 miles south of the Demilitarized Zone. The audience, made up largely of 2nd Infantry Division soldiers, participated in a question-and-answer session with the secretary.

Weinberger, pulling on a camouflaged field jacket with the division's Indianhead patch on the shoulder, told the more than 1,000 soldiers that what they were doing was "understood and deeply appreciated by the people at home."

Weinberger went on to question the stance of congressional committees that feel the U.S. military strategy is too broad and, consequently, too costly.

"I asked them what we should give up," he said. "Should we give up the defense of the continental United States? Should we stop worrying about what's happening in Central America? Should we forget all about NATO? Should we forget all about Japan, Korea and the Far East? And no one really proposed to do any of that."

Weinberger, once a private in the Army, defended the need of a broad approach to defense by recalling how, "A long time ago it was said that Korea lay outside our natural strategic perimeter.

"That's when the attack came," Weinberger said, referring to the 1950 invasion by the Communist North Korean army. "That's why we have, ever since, concluded that it wasn't too far from home to defend the United States — to defend freedom."

During the question-and-answer session, Weinberger responded to questions regarding other areas outside the U.S., including Central America and Libya.

On the possibility of U.S. troops being sent to Central America, Weinberger said he did not feel that would happen and that if the Contra aid package was approved "we would never have to do that."

REGARDING THE RECENT confrontation with Libya, Weinberger said, "We are prepared , and ready, if we have to be, to resist any acts of that kind and to demonstrate that freedom of the seas is not just an expression, but that it means something.''

The secretary got a big laugh from the soldiers when he said Libya was going to hold its own naval exercise near the 6th Fleet. "They said the purpose was for target practice," Weinberger said, "and it's quite evident that they need it."

Weinberger also commented on how the Gramm-Rudman deficit reduction law could affect the military. "Gramm-Rudman can cause: an awful lot of trouble; there's no point in trying to conceal the fact. On the other hand, it needn't come into effect at all."

Weinberger stressed the need for an adequate defense budget by talking about the Soviet approach: to defense spending.

"They just go ahead and put in what they want each year, and it's a very large amount," he said. "The result is they've acquired a large amount of weaponry and they've stolen a lot of technology from us."

The secretary added that he felt that the appropriations that Congress has already approved will make the U.S. military stronger than it was four or five years ago. "The important thing is to keep that up," he said. "Most people at home would rather stop sometimes, and what we keep telling them is that we can't in this kind of world."

The 2nd Infantry Division soldiers presented the secretary a tomahawk.