Allies say 1953 mutual defense treaty extends to cyber, space threats

South Korea and the United States have, for the first time, explicitly confirmed that cyber and space threats to either country could trigger mutual defense actions under their bilateral treaty signed in 1953, which forms the basis of their military alliance. The commitment was outlined in a joint statement following the South Korea-US '2+2' foreign and defense ministerial meeting held Thursday in Washington, notably amid rising concerns over deepening security cooperation between Russia and Nor

Nov. 1, 2024

S. Korea conducts 1st interagency field training against space debris risks

South Korea on Thursday conducted its first interagency field training exercise aimed at coping with potential hazards from space debris, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The exercise, organized by the JCS, was conducted at the Air Force's 20th Fighter Wing, attended by relevant agencies, including the Korea Aerospace Administration and the National Fire Agency, officials said. Under a scenario of space debris falling on South Korean territory, participating agencies and the military

Oct. 31, 2024

5 days to US election, North Korea fires ICBM with longest flight yet

North Korea fired what could be a new intercontinental ballistic missile toward the sea east of the Korean Peninsula on Thursday, a day after South Korean defense intelligence authorities warned of Pyongyang preparing to stage large-scale provocations in the run-up to the US presidential election. The missile flew for approximately 86 minutes, the longest time of any North Korean missile to date, traveling about 1,000 kilometers before falling into the waters between North Korea and Japan, accor

Oct. 31, 2024

Top security adviser meets Danish parliament delegation

National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik met with a visiting Danish parliament delegation Tuesday, and discussed the bilateral partnership and other issues, including North Korea's troop deployment to Russia, the presidential office said. In the meeting with the delegation, which included Michael Aastrup Jensen, head of the foreign affairs policy committee of the Danish parliament, Shin stressed that South Korea is urging North Korean troops to withdraw from Russia immediately and end its ill

Oct. 29, 2024

S. Korea to use homegrown transmission for K2 tanks

South Korea's defense authorities approved on Monday a plan to build K2 battle tanks with a homegrown transmission system, the state arms procurement agency said. Under the plan endorsed by the Defense Project Promotion Committee, K2 tanks will be equipped with a locally developed power pack, which comprises the transmission and the engine, starting from the fourth batch of production that will be built by 2028, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. "The K2 battl

Oct. 28, 2024

South Korean military warns of countermeasures against North Korean drone threats

South Korea’s military on Monday warned of “corresponding measures” in response to North Korea threatening to fly an uncrewed aerial vehicle over Seoul. “If a North Korean UAV infiltration takes place, we will be taking corresponding measures to protect the safety and property of our people,” Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-jun said. The JCS spokesperson dismissed accusations by North Korea that the UAVs that flew over Pyongyang earlier this month h

Oct. 28, 2024

North Korean troops in Russia, US defense secretary says

ROME -- US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday there is evidence that North Korean troops are in Russia, and it remained to be seen what they would be doing there. "There is evidence that there are DPRK troops in Russia," Austin told reporters in Rome, using North Korea's formal name - the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "What exactly they are doing? Left to be seen. These are things that we need to sort out," Austin added. Ukrainian President Vo

Oct. 23, 2024

[Exclusive] UN Command finds cross-border broadcasts trigger trash balloons: JCS memo

The US-led United Nations Command said South Korea broadcasting anti-Kim Jong-un propaganda through loudspeakers along the border with North Korea have encouraged, rather than deterred, North Korea’s launches of balloons carrying trash toward the South, according to a Seoul Joint Chiefs of Staff memo obtained by The Korea Herald. The anti-Pyongyang broadcasts by South Korea “failed to deter the North Korean trash balloons” and “gave North Korea an excuse for additional la

Oct. 21, 2024

Up to North Korea to prove claims of South Korean military sending drones into Pyongyang: JCS

GYERYONG, South Chungcheong Province -- On North Korea claiming without evidence that South Korean uncrewed aerial vehicles flew over Pyongyang, the South Korean army chief of staff said North Korean attempts to gamble with the stability of the Korean Peninsula “will not be tolerated.” Gen. Park An-su said North Korea was “using the drone claims” to order artillery corps to be prepared to open fire along the border and blow up inter-Korean roads. “The North Korean r

Oct. 17, 2024

Trump called Korea a 'money machine.' This is how Korean media translated it.

After former US President Donald Trump called South Korea a "money machine," Korean news outlets on Wednesday grappled with how to best capture the nuance of his words for the Korean audience through translation. Trump made the remarks during an interview with Bloomberg News at the Economic Club of Chicago while discussing the costs of maintaining US troops in South Korea. "If I were there (in the White House) now, they (South Korea)’d be paying us $10 billion a year. And

Oct. 16, 2024

Defense chief apologizes over 'Silmido' unit for 1st time

Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun apologized Tuesday over the fate of members of a past secret unit that trained commandos to infiltrate into North Korea for the first time since they were killed more than a half century ago. Kim's apology was read on his behalf during a ceremony to mark the beginning of an excavation project to find the yet-recovered remains of four Silmido unit members who were executed and secretly buried in 1972. "May those who were sacrificed during the Silmido inc

Oct. 15, 2024

North Korea’s explosions of inter-Korean roads ‘symbolic move’: JCS

North Korea blew up roads near the border on each side of the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday, in another demonstration of cutting ties with the South. Exploding the inter-Korean roads north of the border on the east and west coats, which had already been dismantled by North Korea, is thought to be a “largely symbolic move,” an official from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters in a closed-door briefing. Tuesday’s move is a “dramatic visualization” o

Oct. 15, 2024

Drones seen in Pyongyang’s footage don’t seem South Korean: ADD

The head of the South Korean government agency for defense research and development said Tuesday the uncrewed aerial vehicles seen in footage released by North Korean state media do not seem to be South Korean. “These UAVs do not seem distinctly South Korean, although there are similar-looking ones among commercial kinds as well as those developed (by the military),” Lt. Gen. Lee Kun-wan, president of the Agency for Defense Development, said in response to questions from lawmakers. &

Oct. 15, 2024

Border tensions heighten as North Korea builds up drone incursion claims

The South Korean military is closely watching developments and making necessary preparations in response to the North Korean military ordering its troops near the border to be prepared to open fire. Col. Lee Sung-jun, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson, told reporters Monday that the South Korean military is “prepared for any actual provocation.” ”The responsibility for current circumstances lies entirely with North Korea, and we strongly warn them to stop wit

Oct. 14, 2024

South Korean military has ‘nothing to confirm’ on North Korea preparing border artillery corps to shoot

The South Korean military said Sunday it has “nothing to confirm” regarding North Korea claiming to have ordered its artillery corps near the shared border to fully prepare to shoot. “The military has nothing to confirm,” a South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff official told The Korea Herald. North Korea’s defense ministry said in a statement releases through the state Korean Central News Agency that it has put “fully armed” artillery corps along the border

Oct. 13, 2024

Confusion over alleged S. Korean drone intrusion: Who's behind it?

North Korea's recent claim that the South had sent uncrewed aerial vehicles over Pyongyang three times since last week has stirred a contentious debate on the veracity of the claim and the implications. As of Sunday, the South Korean government has maintained a noncommittal stance, neither confirming nor denying the allegations, while North Korea has yet to present definitive evidence. In a message delivered Friday through the Korean Central News Agency, the North's Foreign Ministry cl

Oct. 13, 2024

No South Korean military drone entered Pyongyang skies: JCS

No South Korean military unmanned aerial vehicle has entered North Korean skies, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday in response to North Korean Foreign Ministry claims of such infiltration into Pyongyang. “The South Korean military has not sent any UAVs or flyers. We don’t know yet if a civilian drone flew in,” an official from the South’s JCS told The Korea Herald. In a statement, the North’s Foreign Ministry claimed that South Korean UAVs had flown

Oct. 11, 2024

S. Korea stages 1st live-fire drills of Taurus missile in 7 years

The Air Force has conducted live-fire drills involving the long-range air-to-surface Taurus missile, officials said Friday, in the first such exercise in seven years amid North Korea's persistent nuclear and missile threats. In the tests conducted on Tuesday and Thursday, F-15K fighter jets fired the Taurus missile, which flew 400 kilometers and successfully hit pre-designated targets in the Yellow Sea, according to the Air Force officials. In 2017, South Korea conducted a live-fire test in

Oct. 11, 2024

North Korea already cut off inter-Korean roads in Aug.: JCS chief

North Korea has already blocked the inter-Korean passages under leader Kim Jong-un’s instructions, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff chief Adm. Kim Myung-soo said Thursday. The South’s JCS chairman was responding to National Assembly questions about the announcement by the North Korean army on Wednesday that the reclusive regime planned to cut off all roads and railways leading to South Korea and build fortifications in the border areas. “North Korea began closing off

Oct. 10, 2024

North Korean troops killed, wounded in Ukraine war: Seoul defense minister

South Korea’s national defense minister on Tuesday said North Korean troops appear to have been killed or wounded in Russia’s war on Ukraine. Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun told lawmakers on this day that reports of North Korean troop casualties in the Ukraine war are believed to be true based on the ministry’s findings. He was speaking about a report in the Ukrainian news agency Kyiv Post that six North Korean officers were among those killed by a missile strike in

Oct. 8, 2024