Political issues likely to hamper implementationThe Ministry of National Defense renewed its military reform plans this week, giving momentum to measures that have been floating without significant development since 2005.“The plans seem to show that the military’s top commanders have awakened after incidents such as the sinking of the Cheonan to the changes that have occurred during previous administrations,” Kim Dae-young of Korea Defense and Security Forum said. While the Defense Ministry’s pl

Aug. 30, 2012

South Korea and the United States have resumed their annual military exercise, the military said Wednesday, one day after the 12-day drill was temporarily halted due to the onset of the powerful Typhoon Bolaven."Training related to the Ulchi Freedom Guardian 2012 will resume this morning after a pause due to weather conditions on the peninsula," the Combined Forces Command (CFC) said in a statemen

Aug. 29, 2012

The corpse of a North Korean soldier was found floating in Hantan river in Cheolwon County, Gangwon Province on Thursday and has been handed over to the U.N. Command Military Armistice Commission, South Korean military confirmed Sunday.This is the first time a North Korean soldier’s corpse had been carried by a river to the South since September 2010.The North Korean soldier, thought to have died sometime last week during the heavy rains, was found by South Korean troops and the U.N. Command Mil

Aug. 26, 2012

The South Korean military plans to conduct regular military exercises in waters near the easternmost islets of Dokdo early next month but they may be delayed because of increased tension over Japan's renewed territorial claims, a military source said Saturday."The Navy has set up a plan to stage the drills to defend Dokdo for four days from Sept. 9," the source said.The plan is pending final confi

Aug. 25, 2012

The first test-launch of Hongsangeo, an anti-submarine light torpedo, failed last month, a Navy official said on Thursday. The military had poured more than 100 billion won ($88 million) into its development.The trial was conducted on July 25 in the sea off Pohang City, southeastern Korea. It was launched from the 7,600-ton Sejong the Great-class Aegis destroyer but missed the target located 60 meters under the sea. The Navy lost the track of the weapon. “Failure in trials is not rare before roc

Aug. 24, 2012

South Korean activists on Friday visited North Korea, pledging aid following deadly floods in the communist state, after winning approval for the trip from Seoul’s conservative government.A four-member delegation representing an array of non-governmental organisations in South Korea left for Kaesong city in North Korea, just across the border.“Many North Koreans have been affected by the floods. We will discuss with North Korean counterparts what they need, such as food and medicine,” Lee Yun-Sa

Aug. 24, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The United States is in discussions with close ally Japan about expanding a missile defense system in Asia, the top U.S. general said Thursday.Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was commenting on a Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. is discussing positioning an early warning radar in southern Japan, supplementing one already in place in the country’s north, to contain threats from North Korea and to counter China’s military.The State Department, h

Aug. 24, 2012

The Joint Chiefs of Staff opened its office building Wednesday. This is the first time since the JCS was formed in 1948 that the organization will operate from an independent building.Since the 1970s, the JCS had shared the building occupied by the Ministry of National Defense. Before that the JCS had moved around from the Defense Ministry to Cheong Wa Dae’s satellite building in Jongno-gu and other government buildings. The 187.5 billion won ($166 million) building consists of 10 above-ground f

Aug. 8, 2012

The Ministry of National Defense’s plans to reorganize the military’s top command structure have once again run into opposition from retired generals.On Wednesday, the association of former top military officers from the three branches of the military distributed a statement opposing the plans to the members of the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee, saying that the proposed changes will be ineffective and concentrate too much power on one individual. Under the Defense Ministry’s pla

Aug. 8, 2012

South Korea and Cambodia have agreed to share military supplies in peacekeeping and rescue operations as part of efforts to expand military ties between the two sides, the defense ministry here said Tuesday.Lee Seon-chul, the head of the South Korean defense ministry‘s logistics management bureau, and Army Lt. Gen. Chau Phirun, the chief supply officer at Cambodia’s defense ministry, signed the memorandum of understanding on the bilateral logistics cooperation in a meeting in Seoul.Under the agr

Aug. 7, 2012

By Choi He-suk The South Korean military plans to develop an unmanned combat aerial vehicle, sources said Tuesday.According to reports, the military is pushing plans for a 500 billion won ($442.7 million) project to develop unmanned combat aircraft along with unmanned reconnaissance aerial vehicles.“A project for developing unmanned combat aircraft is in the works along with the unmanned reconnaissance aerial vehicle project. If development goes under way now, deployment could be possible in 202

Aug. 7, 2012

South Korea and the U.S. are in talks to create a new joint military operation body to take over some key functions of a soon-to-be-dissolved joint military command, a high-ranking government source said Sunday.The South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command has served as a command structure for joint operation of military forces of the two allies since the 1950-53 Korean War.Both agreed to dissolve the CFC as South Korea plans to retake wartime operational control of its troops from the U.S. in 20

Aug. 5, 2012

South Korea will conduct military exercises in waters near the easternmost islets of Dokdo later this month to strengthen its defense amid Japan’s renewed territorial claims, a military official said Thursday.The biannual exercise comes at a time when diplomatic tensions between Seoul and Tokyo rose after Japan reiterated its claim to Dokdo in its latest defense white paper, which drew strong protest from Seoul.The last drill was held in February. Dokdo, which lies closer to South Korea in the E

Aug. 2, 2012

The defense ministries of South Korea and China will establish a hotline communications channel, the Ministry of National Defense announced Tuesday. The nations also signed a memorandum of understanding to increase exchange between their militaries during the second strategic defense talks held in Beijing. The MOU includes clauses regarding working-level talks between defense policy specialists, cooperative search and rescue missions, and overseas humanitarian missions, the Defense Ministry said

July 31, 2012

South Korea has selected British defense firm BAE Systems Inc. for a 1.3 trillion won ($1.1 billion) project to upgrade the country’s aging KF-16 fighter jets, the state arms procurement agency said Tuesday.The multi-year project calls for upgrading a total of 134 KF-16 fighters by improving mission computers and operating systems with the latest versions and by replacing current radars with active electronically scanned array, also known as AESA, to double the detection range by 2021, according

July 31, 2012

The U.S. secretary of defense confirmed that the U.S. is set on handing over the wartime operational control to South Korea as scheduled in 2015, despite the Center of Strategic and International Studies’ recommendations to the contrary.The report submitted by the Washington-based bipartisan think tank to the Congress last week suggested that the wartime operational control handover and the fate of the Combined Forces Command should be decided after related issues have been thoroughly assessed.

July 29, 2012

A report on South Korean defense policies showed that North Korean defectors wish to serve their military service in the South, which is banned under the military law. The quarterly report of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, a state-funded defense think tank, said that seven out of eight North Koreans who fled the reclusive state between 2003 and 2010 want to enlist in the army. “I feel left out when thinking that the South Korean government does not trust the defectors although they sa

July 29, 2012

The military is facing personnel shortages in 19 of the 65 fields to be staffed by type-two specialist sergeants, data showed Tuesday. Type-two specialist sergeants are selected before the start of national service, and those selected serve an additional 15 months as sergeants after the end of the mandatory term. The system, along with that for type-one specialty sergeants, was introduced in 2008 to compensate for the personnel shortages caused by the shortening of the duration of the national s

July 24, 2012