South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development is seeking to revise laws to allow it to share and transfer ideas and technology more easily between itself, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and the private sector.Its proposal for the revision is subject to approval by the National Assembly.The proposal comes as the agency plans to restructure some of its key divisions to set up a new unit focusing on developing new defense technology in collaboration with private companies, including

Nov. 19, 2012

The Joint Chiefs of Staff’s operational readiness inspection unit will be restructured by the end of this year, defense officials said.The unit will be re-established under the wing of the Ministry of National Defense by early 2013, with an expanded role evaluating and overseeing comprehensive aspects of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, including munitions supplies, administration and the strategic command system.The JCS unit had been limited to inspection and evaluation of the milita

Nov. 18, 2012

Gen. James Thurman, the commander of the United Forces in Korea, got a Korean name in a gesture of friendship and goodwill for his service in the nation, an alliance association said Friday.The Republic of Korea-U.S. Alliance Friendship Association conferred the name, "Seo Min Jae," to the four-star general, who is dual-hatted as the commander of the United Nations Command, during a ceremony held at the U.S. Army garrison in Yongsan, Seoul.The society has made a special plaque, containing a mess

Nov. 16, 2012

An Air Force aerobatic jet crashed in northeastern South Korea on Thursday, killing its lone pilot and sparking a brush fire, police said.The T-50B plane went down at 10:28 a.m. on a mountain in Hoengseong, about 90 kilometers east of Seoul, and its pilot, identified only as Capt. Kim, 32, is believed dead, officials said.A parachute was found hanging from a tree about 70 meters from the scene, but the pilot was believed to have failed to eject, officials said. It was one of two planes that took

Nov. 15, 2012

The Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to have the full authority to oversee the armed forces’ armaments and operational capability beginning next year.This is in line with efforts to streamline the chain of command between the Army, Air Force and Navy for faster decision-making, defense officials said.The JCS will be given the full power to comprehensively assess and make final decisions as to what weapon systems need to be upgraded or replaced and what is required to boost capabilities of each

Nov. 8, 2012

The Air Force’s plan to purchase advanced air-to-surface missiles faces hurdles due to design and price problems, officials said Monday. The Air Force is trying to decide between Lockheed Martin’s JASSM and TAURUS Systems’ Taurus for the country’s fleet of F-15K strike fighters. However, defense officials said that JASSM missiles, which have the capability to penetrate North Korea’s underground bunkers, are not compatible with Boeing’s F-15Ks.On the other hand, the German-Swedish Taurus is highl

Nov. 6, 2012

Israel has expressed an interest in buying four frigates from South Korea and plans to send a team of its officials to Seoul next month to pursue a potential deal, a Seoul official said Saturday."Israel recently expressed an interest to buy four frigates," said the official at the state-run weapons procurement agency, Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). The official said Israel will "send its due diligence team to two South Korean manufacturers of warships in the middle of next mo

Nov. 3, 2012

The Defense Ministry’s rare unveiling this week of the country’s missile defense concept has sparked speculation that it is setting the mood for purchasing a U.S.-made advanced missile program to handle North Korea’s threats.The ministry on Tuesday outlined its low-tier missile interception system, saying that a North Korean ballistic missile can be detected some 40 seconds after lift-off first by the U.S. early warning satellite. It said that without it, it would take at least 100 seconds to de

Oct. 31, 2012

Five military intelligence officers were referred to the military prosecution for punishment on charges of paid sex, embezzlement and other wrongdoings that have been covered up for up to more than two years, the defense ministry said Tuesday.The Defense Security Command officers got away with internal disciplinary measures, such as transfers to field units, without facing formal charges as their agency did not refer the cases for investigation over concern its image could be tarnished.Four seni

Oct. 30, 2012

 South Korea's plan to purchase 60 advanced combat fighters is expected to roll over into next year as negotiations have dragged on, with the next government widely expected to complete the multi-billion dollar project after December's presidential election, according to procurement officials Monday.The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by Lockheed Martin, the F-15 SE Silent Eagle by Boeing and the Eurofighter by Europe's multinational defense group EADS have been vying for the fighter jet purchase prog

Oct. 29, 2012

South Korea has picked the state-funded Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) as the preferred bidder to develop unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for reconnaissance missions, the state procurement agency said Monday.In an arms acquisition committee meeting, Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin approved the plan to select KAI as the preferred bidder for the advanced UAVs for the main system and aircraft, LIG for the ground control and radar system, and Samsung Thales for the data link system, the Defense Acqui

Oct. 29, 2012

South Korea and the U.S. military agreed on Wednesday to strengthen cooperation on space and cyber security to counter North Korea’s provocations.The defense chiefs of the two allies also said that they have developed a roadmap to boost extended deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear threats.South Korea’s Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta held their annual security talks in Washington D.C.“Both sides decided to develop a tailored bilateral deterrence stra

Oct. 25, 2012

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said Wednesday that Washington is still in consultations with Seoul over its future role in a regional missile defense system."With regards to future missile defense, that's an area we continue to discuss in order to make sure that we have all of the defenses necessary to deal with the missile threat coming fromNorth Korea and whatever steps are necessary to try to make sure that we are prepared for that," Panetta told reporters after talks with his South K

Oct. 25, 2012

About 10 North Korean defectors said Monday they had floated tens of thousands of anti-Pyongyang leaflets as they brushed off the North's latest threats of military attacks.The defectors announced on a Web site that they launched balloons carrying about 120,000 leaflets at 6 p.m. from South Korea's western island of Gangwha, which is close to North Korea.Park Sang-hak, who has led a high-profile campaign to send anti-Pyongyang leaflets for years, said separately the leaflets criticized North Kor

Oct. 22, 2012

   EUIJEONGBU -- A municipal government expressed concern Sunday over a U.S. plan to redeploy a unit in their region, saying it would undermine a project to replace the U.S. base with a college campus.   The U.S. Army plans to relocate the 23rd Chemical Battalion from the U.S. state of Washington to Camp Stanley in Euijeongbu, just north of Seoul, by March of next year, an official of the Euijeongbu city government said Sunday.   The relocation would come nine years after the unit withdrew from

Oct. 21, 2012