Some 15,000 men who have delayed their mandatory military service for the last several years will be notified to take another physical checkup next year under a 2007 law, the military recruitment agency said Wednesday. Under the military draft law, young men are to go through another checkup five years after taking the first one. Before the law was enacted in January 2007, men had taken only one c

June 29, 2011

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― The incoming top American military commander in Korea said Tuesday that the United States and South Korea should prepare for the possibility of a regime collapse in North Korea.In his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing, Gen. James Thurman, the nominee to lead 28,000 U.S. forces in South Korea, raised doubts over the North’s heir apparent, Kim Jong-un, w

June 29, 2011

Thirteen senior officials of the state weapons acquisition agency will take early retirement later this month as the agency strives to slim-down its organization and improve its efficiency, officials said Tuesday.The personnel reorganization was the largest in scale since the establishment of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration in January 2006, they said.Most of the officials who chose

June 28, 2011

The Army signed an accord with Korea University on Tuesday to establish a department for nurturing cyber warfare specialists as South Korea strives to bolster its capabilities to deal with North Korean cyber attacks.The ceremony to sign the agreement was attended by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Kim Sang-ki and Korea University President Kim Byung-chul.It is the first time for the military to establish

June 28, 2011

The Ministry of National Defense will implement a stringent inspection system next month as the government strives to root out corruption and enhance public trust, officials said Monday.From October, it will also apply the property registration rule to more military officials in a bid to boost the anti-corruption drive.Such measures came as some 120 officials from the ministry, the Joint Chiefs of

June 27, 2011

SINGAPORE, June 27, 2011 (AFP) - New recruits to Singapore's military, air force and navy are to get a new standard-issue item of equipment besides their rifle -- the iPad.The defence ministry said Monday it will be issuing "about 8,000" of the sleek, touch-screen tablet computers -- already wildly popular with the city-state's tech-savvy youth -- to recruits from November.The ministry said it was

June 27, 2011

Defense chiefs of South Korea and Sweden will hold talks in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss ways to enhance bilateral military exchanges and cooperation in the defense industry, officials at the Ministry of National Defense said Monday.Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and his Swedish counterpart Sten Tolgfors will also exchange views on issues concerning regional security and peace, officials said. Durin

June 20, 2011

SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's military said Sunday it will not reprimand two Marines who fired rifles last week at a civilian jetliner after mistaking it for a North Korean military aircraft. The two Marines guarding an island near the tense Yellow Sea border with the North fired their K-2 rifles at the Asiana Airlines plane flying in sea fog in a pre-dawn incident on Friday. The plane

June 19, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) ― A Senate committee is looking to block the reorganization of U.S. forces in east Asia, which it sees as too costly and impractical, the panel’s chairman said Friday.Legislation backed by the Senate Armed Services Committee would prohibit funding to relocate the U.S. Marine base in the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. It also would suspend plans to relocate thousands of famili

June 19, 2011

Two non-commissioned officers died on Friday due to an apparent cardiac arrest while undergoing separate physical tests, Army officials said.A 40-year-old warrant officer, identified only by his surname Kang, suddenly collapsed during a 3-kilometer run, part of an annual fitness test at a military base in Cheorwon, about 80kilometers northeast of Seoul, they said.Kang was immediately sent to a nea

June 17, 2011

The South Korean military has deployed to frontline areas near the Demilitarized Zone tactical surface-to-surface missiles that put the North Korean capital of Pyongyang within their striking range, military sources said Friday.The forward-deployment early this year of the U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile Systems came as concerns were rising that the North could provoke again with its long-range ar

June 17, 2011

South Korea will launch a new military command Wednesday to better defend the five northwestern border islands, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday.North Korea’s November shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, prompted calls for stronger measures to safeguard the islands of vital strategic value, which this new command is designed to meet. The ceremony to mark its launch is to take place at 3 p.m. at t

June 14, 2011

The military is striving to tighten discipline in cyberspace as an increasing number of tech-savvy enlisted soldiers are caught breaking rules on Internet use.While South Korea prides itself on being one of the world’s most wired countries, widespread video recording devices and access to the Internet have created a headache for the military.The military has been running 82 “cyber patrol teams” in

June 5, 2011

South Korea’s defense minister has warned that his country would respond very strongly to any future attacks by North Korea.Kim Kwan Jin said at a regional security conference in Singapore on Saturday that his government must react with stiffer responses than in the past because North Korean provocations are becoming increasingly bold.Kim said North Korea has been insincere in previous talks and m

June 4, 2011