S. Korea, U.S. to conduct joint naval drill this week

South Korea and the United States plan to carry out a two-day joint naval drill this week on South Korea's east coast as part of efforts to enhance their joint military readiness, officers here said Monday.The allies "are scheduled to conduct the exercise for two days starting Tuesday in the East Sea," a naval officer here said, requesting anonymity.The joint exercise involves two U.S. Aegis destroyers, including the 9,200-ton USS Mustin (DDG 89), which arrived at the port city of Donghae on Sun

Jan. 12, 2015

Navy to set up submarine command next month

The South Korean Navy will set up a submarine command next month as part of efforts to boost the country‘s underwater capabilities, a naval officer said Sunday.“The submarine command will be established on Feb. 1 in the southern port city of Jinhae after extending the current 9th submarine flotilla,” the naval officer said, requesting anonymity.The new command will be in charge of the naval underwater capabilities under the leadership of a two-star general, he added.“It will operate nine 1,200-t

Jan. 11, 2015

S. Korean Navy to set up submarine command next month

The South Korean Navy will set up a submarine command next month as part of efforts to boost the country's underwater capabilities, a naval officer said Sunday."The submarine command will be established on Feb. 1 in the southern port city of Jinhae after extending the current 9th submarine flotilla," the naval officer said, requesting anonymity.The new command will be in charge of the naval underwater capabilities under the leadership of a two-star general, he added."It will operate nine 1,200-t

Jan. 11, 2015

N.K. bolsters underwater warfare capabilities

North Korea appears to be striving to reinforce its underwater warfare capabilities with a focus on developing submarine-based missiles, which military analysts say would pose a serious security threat given the difficulties in detecting and tracking them.Recent commercial satellite imagery indicated that the conning tower of a new North Korean submarine housed one or two possible vertical launch tubes for either ballistic or cruise missiles, the U.S.-based research blog 38 North said in its lat

Jan. 9, 2015

Military to relieve troops of non-combat roles

The Defense Ministry plans to relieve some 2,500 troops of their military support missions and reassign them to combat positions by 2019, as it seeks to open noncombat missions to civilian staff.The ministry said Thursday that it had established a basic plan to open some military jobs to civilians for 2015-19. The sectors include laundry, disposal of military waste, operations of post exchanges and maintenance of military equipment.The plan comes amid criticism that assigning soldiers for such p

Jan. 8, 2015

Defense firm exec gets jail term for leaking military secrets

A local court sentenced an executive of a South Korean defense company to four years in prison Thursday for leaking military secrets to more than two dozen domestic and foreign firms.Last July, the 52-year-old executive, identified only by his surname Kim, was indicted on charges of collecting classified military documents and passing them on to 25 companies at home and abroad between 2008 and June last year.The leaked documents contained information about some 31 defense enhancement projects, i

Jan. 8, 2015

S. Korea to set up ground operations command in 2018

The South Korean military plans to establish a command to be in charge of the Army's ground operations in 2018 as part of efforts to guarantee more efficient and stronger field operations, government sources said Wednesday.Under its comprehensive plan to reform the military structure to ensure more flexible troop management, the government has pushed to merge its 1st and 3rd Armies to create the Ground Operations Command to lead frontline units."At the end of last year, the defense ministry deci

Jan. 7, 2015

Seoul reports N.K. progress in nuke capability

North Korea’s capability to miniaturize nuclear warheads has reached a “considerable” level, while its long-range missiles are presumed to be capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, according to Seoul’s 2014 defense whitepaper published Tuesday.The biennial policy paper referred to the North Korean regime and military as “our enemy,” the same term it used in 2010 ― the year the North launched two provocations that killed a total of 50 South Koreans including two civilians.The paper also reported

Jan. 6, 2015

Frenchman indicted for smuggling defense secrets

The prosecution said Tuesday it indicted the former head of the Korean branch of a France-based defense firm without physical detention on the charge of collecting secrets from the Korean military.The 65-year-old suspect, whose name was withheld by authorities, is believed to have illegally acquired military secrets from August 2012 to April 2014, according to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office. He supposedly received the information from a South Korean defense broker surnamed Kim, a

Jan. 6, 2015

Favors to defense firms cause big budget waste: state auditor

The military and related public agencies have provided a range of favors to defense companies and failed to properly manage them, leading to pervasive corruption and a huge waste of budget, the state auditor said Tuesday.Announcing the results of a three-month probe from May, the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) said the authorities designated defense goods without proper demand analysis and gave preferences to large defense companies for their production, which led to a waste of more than 60

Jan. 6, 2015

Park calls for military readiness amid tensions with N. Korea

President Park Geun-hye called on the military Thursday to maintain its readiness, saying robust security is a must to lay the groundwork for potential unification with North Korea.   "We should end the history of division by putting an end to the Cold War on the Korean Peninsula," Park said in a New Year's message to the country's 650,000-strong military.   The Korean Peninsula was divided into the capitalistic South and communist North after its liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.  

Jan. 1, 2015

First indigenous salvage ship to be delivered to Navy

South Korea's first indigenous salvage ship at the center of a corruption scandal was delivered to the Navy on Tuesday after passing an operational capability test, military officials said.   The 3,500-ton Tongyeong has been at the center of a major controversy following allegations that a number of military officers took bribes from a local company that supplied faulty parts to the ship.   The vessel, built in 2012, could not be deployed for rescue operations in the aftermath of April's ferry s

Dec. 30, 2014

Korea, U.S., Japan sign military intelligence pact

South Korea, the United States and Japan have signed a military pact on sharing sensitive information on North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs amid the communist country’s growing security threats to the region, Seoul’s defense ministry said Monday.The pact went into effect Monday after a memorandum of understanding signed last week by South Korean Vice Defense Minister Baek Seung-joo and his counterparts Robert Work and Masanori Nishi was delivered to the U.S. side earlier in the day, the

Dec. 29, 2014

S. Korea to conduct first missile defense drill next year

South Korea plans to conduct its first missile defense drill in the first half of next year to test the effectiveness of locally developed defense programs in the face of North Korea's missile and nuclear threats, a government source said Monday.   South Korea has been developing its own Kill-Chain and Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) systems to better detect and respond to military provocations from the North.   "Military authorities are planning our first independent Korean Peninsula miss

Dec. 29, 2014

3 workers killed by toxic gas at reactor site

Three construction workers at a nuclear power plant in Ulsan died Friday after inhaling toxic gas, officials said.A decontamination team was dispatched to the Shin-Kori nuclear power plant following the accident at 5:18 p.m.The incident came some days after a group of hackers threatened to “destroy reactors” unless the government shut down three nuclear reactors at the Kori and Wolseong nuclear power plants by Christmas Day. They also told residents near the facilities to leave. The government c

Dec. 26, 2014