Main opposition leader proposes military pay raise

The main opposition party on Wednesday rolled out a set of pledges aimed at improving the livelihoods of soldiers here, including raising their night and weekend shift payments. The pledges were announced by Democratic Party of Korea Chair Lee Jae-myung during his visit to the Second Marine Division in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, in the morning. The party plans to help the Ministry of Defense raise the weekday late shift pay for soldiers from the current 10,000 won ($7.50) to 30,000 won per shif

Jan. 24, 2024

Kim Jong-un nostalgic for engagement approach of 2018: Seoul defense chief

Shin Won-sik, the minister of national defense of South Korea, says North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could carry out a nuclear weapons test at any time this year if he believes he could gain what he wants from the next US president by doing so. In an interview with The Korea Herald on Monday, the South Korean defense chief said North Korea’s Kim may seek to leverage the US presidential election in November to get the incoming administration in Washington to accede to his demands. North Kore

Jan. 23, 2024

Survivor of torpedoed corvette takes helm of reincarnated ROKS Cheonan frigate

A Navy officer who survived North Korea's 2010 sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan took the helm of a new frigate named after the ill-fated corvette, the Navy said Monday. The FFG-826 Daegu-class frigate was named after the ROKS Cheonan, which sank in the Yellow Sea after the North Korean torpedo attack in March 2010, killing 46 sailors. Commander Park Yeon-soo, who served as the operations officer on the Cheonan, became the commanding officer of the ROKS Cheonan frigate during an i

Jan. 22, 2024

Seoul dismisses North Korea’s claims of undersea nuclear weapons test

The South Korean presidential office on Sunday said North Korea’s claims of having carried out a test of an underwater nuclear weapons system were probably overstated. In a primary analysis on North Korea’s announcement on Friday, an official with the presidential office in Seoul said that the purported test was “likely to be exaggerated and fabricated.” The development of an underwater nuclear-based weapons system is one of the key tasks outlined in North Korea’s f

Jan. 21, 2024

S. Korea's military power 5th in world; N. Korea ranks 36th: index

South Korea ranked fifth in the world in terms of military strength, while North Korea's standing was at 36th, an annual military power index showed Friday. South Korea had a firepower score of 0.1416 to stand at fifth out of 145 countries, according to Global Firepower 2024. Its standing rose by one notch from a year earlier. The index is calculated based on more than 60 factors, with categories ranging from military might and financial standing to logistical capability and geography. The

Jan. 19, 2024

Senior S. Korean general calls for intl. response against NK threats at NATO meeting

A senior South Korean general has highlighted the need for international response and cooperation against North Korea's evolving military threats at a major gathering of top North Atlantic Treaty Organization military officials, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday. Lt. Gen. Hwang You-sung, vice chairman of the JCS, made the call during a session of the defense chiefs of the NATO Military Committee in Brussels on Thursday after being invited to the gathering along with delegations from thr

Jan. 19, 2024

Defense ministry unit probing student activists over attempt to enter presidential office

The defense ministry's investigation unit has begun a probe into student activists who attempted to enter the presidential office this month over their possible violation of military law, officials said Thursday. The ministry's Criminal Investigative Command has booked some 10 members of the Korean University Progressive Union on charges of injuring sentry guards and trespassing at a guard post during their attempt to enter the presidential office in central Seoul on Jan. 6. The presid

Jan. 18, 2024

Anti-corruption office raids office of Marines commandant over alleged influence peddling

The anti-corruption investigation office has raided the office of Marine Corps Commandant Lt. Gen. Kim Kye-hwan over an alleged influence-peddling case related to the death of a young Marine last year, multiple sources said Thursday. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials searched Kim's office at the Marine Corps headquarters in Hwaseong, some 40 kilometers south of Seoul, Wednesday to seize documents and files related to the case, according to the sources familiar w

Jan. 18, 2024

[Graphic News] Over 8,000 permanent residents volunteered for military service over past 2 decades

Over 8,000 permanent residents have fulfilled South Korea’s military service over the past two decades under a voluntary enrollment system, the Military Manpower Administration said. The manpower agency adopted the voluntary enrollment system in 2004 to allow overseas residents whose mandatory military service was exempted or postponed due to their permanent residence status. All able-bodied Korean men are obliged to serve in the military for at least 18 months. The number of cumulative ap

Jan. 18, 2024

S. Korea, US, Japan stage joint naval drill involving aircraft carrier

South Korea, the United States and Japan have jointly conducted naval drills in waters south of the Korean Peninsula following North Korea's recent launch of a hypersonic missile, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday. The joint exercise took place in southeastern waters off Jeju Island involving nine warships of the three nations, including the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, from Monday to Wednesday. The South Korean Navy's Aegis combat system-equipped destroy

Jan. 17, 2024

Defense chief says N. Korea appears to have made 'some progress' in hypersonic missile development

North Korea appears to have made "some progress" in its pursuit to develop a hypersonic missile, Seoul's defense chief said Tuesday, after Pyongyang claimed to have successfully tested a solid-fuel one earlier this week. Defense Minister Shin Won-sik made the remark in a radio interview with broadcaster KBS after the North launched an intermediate-range missile into the East Sea on Sunday in its first ballistic missile test this year. Shin said the latest launch involved a conical

Jan. 16, 2024

S. Korea to join US-led multinational anti-submarine exercise

South Korea will join a US-led multinational anti-submarine exercise in waters off Guam on Tuesday, the Navy said, in an effort to hone capabilities against underwater threats. The Navy will deploy some 40 personnel and a P-3 maritime patrol aircraft for the annual Sea Dragon exercise that is set to begin later in the day through Jan. 25, which will also involve India, Australia and Japan. The exercise will train troops aboard maritime patrol aircraft to identify and track submarines with detect

Jan. 16, 2024

S. Korea considering support measures for safe passage in Red Sea

South Korea is considering various measures to secure safe passage for cargo ships in the Red Sea amid rising tensions on the major shipping route, the defense ministry said Monday. Tensions in the Red Sea have escalated as the United States and Britain conducted strikes on military targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen last week following more than two dozen attacks by the rebels since mid-November. "The defense ministry is making all efforts to ensure Korean vessels' safe shipp

Jan. 15, 2024

North Korea conducts first ballistic missile test of year

North Korea fired a mid-range ballistic missile into the sea east of the Korean Peninsula on Sunday afternoon, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. This was the North’s first ballistic missile launch of the year, with the previous one on Dec. 18. “At approximately 2:55 p.m. on this day, a single intermediate-range ballistic missile was fired from the vicinity of Pyongyang toward the east coast, flying for about 1,000 kilometers before landing in the water,” t

Jan. 14, 2024

Defense chief calls for maintaining capabilities to strike NK leadership

South Korea's defense chief on Friday called for maintaining operational capabilities to eliminate the North Korean leadership in a contingency in order to deter its nuclear threats, his ministry said. Defense Minister Shin Won-sik made the remark as he visited the Agency for Defense Development in Daejeon, 139 kilometers south of Seoul, days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he has no intention of avoiding war with the South. "In order to deter North Korea's nuclear thre

Jan. 12, 2024

JCS chief calls for 'seamless' surveillance at western coastal units

South Korea's top military officer has called for "seamless" surveillance as he visited units on the western coast, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday, in the wake of North Korea's recent artillery firing. JCS Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo inspected a coastal guard unit and a radar base, both located in Taean County, 109 kilometers southwest of Seoul, on Thursday. The latest inspection visit came after the North fired hundreds of artillery shells near the western sea border

Jan. 12, 2024

S. Korea to begin production of homegrown KF-21 fighter jet

South Korea is set to begin production of the KF-21 fighter jet this year as planned, the state arms procurement agency said Wednesday, in what would be a major milestone in the country's pursuit of an advanced homegrown fighter. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration seeks to sign a contract with Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd., the jet's manufacturer, within the first half of the year to pave the way for the KF-21's large-scale production, according to a DAPA official. I

Jan. 10, 2024

Top S. Korean, NATO military officials hold phone talks ahead of major NATO gathering

The top military officials of South Korea and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization held phone talks Tuesday ahead of a major NATO meeting next week, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, amid joint efforts to deepen cooperation. JCS Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo spoke by phone with Adm. Rob Bauer, chair of NATO's military committee, on the two-day NATO Military Chiefs of Defense meeting in Brussels starting next Wednesday to be attended by South Korean officials, according to the JCS. South Korea

Jan. 9, 2024

North Korea broke now-defunct military pact with South 3,600 times: JCS

North Korea breached the recently scrapped 2018 inter-Korean military accord approximately 3,600 times, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday. The number of violations by North Korea, counted from the time the deal was reached six years ago, was announced following three consecutive days of North Korean provocations along the sea boundary. The JCS in Seoul told the press that due to North Korea’s firing of artillery shells near South Korean border islands over the past thre

Jan. 8, 2024

S. Korea to launch two more military spy satellites this year

South Korea plans to launch two more military spy satellites this year to better monitor North Korea, the state arms procurement agency said Monday, a move that could heat up the inter-Korean space race. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration said two synthetic aperture radar satellites are scheduled to be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in April and November, respectively. Beginning with an electro-optical and infrared satellite in

Jan. 8, 2024