Carter seeks to bolster capabilities to cope with

U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Monday he will discuss ways to bolster joint defense capabilities with South Korea to cope with "an increasingly dangerous and provocative North Korea" when he visits Seoul later this week.  Carter made the remark during a speech at the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University, outlining his trip to South Korea and Japan, designed to cement alliances with the two countries in a region marked by China's rise and threats fr

April 7, 2015

Security forum on Northeast Asia due in Japan next month: sources

A two-track regional security forum is to be held in Japan next month, involving government officials and scholars from the six nations engaged in multilateral talks on North Korea's denuclearization, sources said Sunday.Since its inception in 1993, the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue has served as a venue for informal dialogue among North Korea and its five dialogue partners on its nuclear program -- South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.Organized by the University of Cali

April 5, 2015

State Department approves possible missile sale to S. Korea

The U.S. State Department has approved a possible sale to South Korea of 400 air-to-surface Hellfire missiles as well as related equipment, parts and support, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Thursday.  South Korea has asked to buy 400 AGM-114R1 Hellfire II Semi-Active Laser Missiles with containers, 100 ATM-114Q Air Training Missiles, and 12 M36E8 Hellfire II Captive Air Training Missiles from Lockheed Martin, the agency said in a statement.  The estimated cost is $81 million, it sa

April 3, 2015

S. Korea did not receive THAAD information from Lockheed Martin: ministry

South Korea has not received any detailed information from the U.S. defense company Lockheed Martin Corp. on the firm's advanced missile defense battery, the defense ministry here said Thursday.Reuters reported on Monday that Lockheed Martin "has provided information to South Korea and the U.S. government to support a possible sale of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system," citing Lockheed Martin's senior manager for international air and missile business development, Dan Garcia.THAAD h

April 2, 2015

U.S. not to raise THAAD issue when Carter visits S. Korea next week: official

The United States will not bring up the issue of the THAAD missile defense system when Defense Secretary Ashton Carter visits South Korea next week, a U.S. official said Wednesday."After discussions between senior leaders at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul and military leaders on the peninsula and at the Pentagon, it was decided that the topic of THAAD will not be discussed during Secretary Carter's trip next week," the official said.The U.S. wants to deploy a THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defens

April 2, 2015

S. Korea to create task force for indigenous fighter project

South Korea plans to form an inter-agency team to handle the country's largest-ever acquisition project aimed at developing an indigenous fighter jet, officials here said Wednesday, which is already facing daunting challenges on the budget and technology transfer fronts.Seoul's arms procurement agency is trying to speed up the 8.67 trillion won ($7.84 billion) project, more than 10 years behind schedule. On Tuesday, it selected Korea Aerospace Industries, the country's sole aircraft maker, as th

April 1, 2015

Army major general gets jail term for sexual harassment

The military’s appeals court has sentenced a two-star army general to six months in jail for sexually harassing his female soldier, and ordered him to be put on the public list of sex offenders, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.The major general of the 17th Infantry Division, identified by his surname Song, was arrested last October for allegedly hugging a staff sergeant and kissing her cheeks in his office on five occasions between August and September last year.The High Court for Armed Forces

March 31, 2015

Arms dealer charged with US$90 mln fraud

Prosecutors said Tuesday they have indicted the chairman of a major local arms dealer on charges of swindling some 100 billion won ($90 million) from a transaction he brokered between South Korea and a Turkish firm in 2009.Lee Kyu-tae of Ilgwang Group is accused of exaggerating the price of an electronic warfare training system when South Korea's procurement agency was purchasing it from Havelsan, a Turkish software company.EWTS trains soldiers on using the electromagnetic spectrum to attack or

March 31, 2015

Cabinet OKs creation of new presidential post of cyber security

The Cabinet approved the creation of a new presidential post handling cyber security, an official said Tuesday, the latest in a series of efforts by South Korea to better deal with possible cyber-attacks.Presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook said the new post of presidential secretary for cyber security is designed to strengthen the country's control tower over cyber security.Still, President Park Geun-hye has yet to name her pick for the new post.The move came after a series of cyber-attacks in

March 31, 2015

U.S. defense chief to visit S. Korea next week: source

The defense secretary of the United States will visit South Korea next week for talks with his local counterpart on key pending security issues, Seoul's defense ministry said Tuesday, with attention drawn to the possible deployment of an advanced U.S. missile-defense system here."For now, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter is scheduled to come here on April 9 for a three-day stay," defense ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said at a regular briefing without further elaboration.A Seoul source, requ

March 31, 2015

Korea, U.S. talk missile defense cooperation

The military leaders of South Korea and the U.S. discussed ways to enhance interoperability between their countries’ ballistic missile defense systems and their capabilities to counter North Korea’ evolving security threats, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday.South Korea’s JCS Chairman Choi Yun-hee and his U.S. counterpart Martin Dempsey held a meeting in Seoul, during which the two touched on an array of bilateral and regional security issues including the preparations for the conditions

March 27, 2015

S. Korea, U.S. kick off large-scale maritime drill

South Korea and the United States launched a large-scale joint maritime field training exercise on Friday to strengthen interoperability in amphibious operations between the allies' forces, the Navy here said Friday.The five-day war game in South Korea's southern port city of Pohang is part of the allies' annual landing drill -- known as Ssangyong in South Korea and the Korean Marine Exchange Program in the U.S. -- that began on Monday.For the maneuvers, some 7,600 marines and sailors of the two

March 27, 2015

Military uniforms to display national flag

In a move to boost Korean soldiers’ sense of honor and duty, all military uniforms will display the Korean national flag within this year, the Ministry of Defense said Thursday.“We came up with the measure to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Korea’s independence and to encourage military personnel to feel more pride about their service,” Defense Ministry deputy spokesperson Na Seng-yong said at a news briefing.Currently, only select groups ― Korean soldiers assigned to the Korean Augmentation

March 26, 2015