South Korea’s military is looking to revamp living conditions for conscripts as soldiers of Generation Z – those born between mid-1990s to early 2010s – have hit out at the military over subpar living environments amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Two weeks ago, Korea’s National Human Rights Commission said it will launch an investigation into allegations that the military violated rights of conscripts in quarantine. The soldiers posted on Facebook that they had been fed poorl

Defense May 10, 2021

Israel’s foreign and economy ministers are visiting Seoul this week to hold talks with their Korean counterparts, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday. From Monday to Thursday, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and Economy Minister Amir Peretz will sit down with the Korean foreign and trade ministers to discuss deepening senior-level exchanges and expanding ties ahead of marking 60 years of diplomatic relations next year. Israel will also sign a free trade agreement with Korea,

Foreign Affairs May 9, 2021

North Korea will receive COVID-19 vaccines as early as July with a shipment delay over global supply shortages, the Gavi alliance, which co-leads the COVAX vaccine sharing program with the World Health Organization, said Wednesday. “Depending on the supply situation, a COVID-19 vaccine introduction could be envisaged in the second half of 2021,” a Gavi spokesperson told Radio Free Asia, refraining from fixing concrete dates. The North was expected to receive nearly 2 million doses o

North Korea May 6, 2021

South Korea has a role to play in bringing about an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region anchored by international rules, as the Quad alliance -- a group of Pacific democracies including the US, India, Japan and Australia -- seeks a partnership between like-minded countries, the Australian ambassador to Korea says. The US-led coalition is seen as trying to counter China’s growing influence in the region, and that represents a challenge for Korea. Seoul is looking to balance its alliance

Foreign Affairs May 6, 2021

The South Korean, US and Japanese military chiefs on Thursday discussed deepening security cooperation amid a growing threat from North Korea to promote peace and stability in the region, at their first in-person three-way talks in Hawaii since the COVID-19 outbreak in January a year earlier. The talks, held on the sidelines of a change-of-command ceremony at the US Indo-Pacific Command, opened as the US seeks to establish what it calls a rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific regi

Defense April 30, 2021

South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission said Thursday that it will launch an investigation into allegations that the military violated rights of conscripts who said they had been fed poorly and denied access to bathrooms because of the COVID-19 response. The previous week, an Army conscript prompted public outcry when he revealed on Facebook that he had been given insufficient meals while in quarantine, showing a picture of what appeared to be a nearly empty tray. The militar

Defense April 29, 2021

South Korea’s mandatory military service is back in the limelight as younger men step up calls for conscription for women as a matter of gender equality. But experts say this movement faces a long road ahead. The fresh debate about subjecting both men and women to mandatory military service was sparked by ruling Democratic Party Rep. Park Yong-jin, who suggested revamping the conscription system as part of his 2022 presidential election campaign. Park proposed an all-volunteer military o

Defense April 28, 2021

South Korea and China have not discussed the Quad alliance, a US-led democratic coalition comprising the US, Australia, India and Japan to contain an increasingly assertive China, the Ministry of National Defense said Monday. “It’s an unequivocal no. We have not been in talks on the matter and on whether we will join the group,” ministry spokesperson Boo Seung-chan said, referring to a report that Beijing had repeatedly asked Seoul whether it planned to join the group amid gro

Defense April 26, 2021

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday set more drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 than previously revealed to achieve a carbon-neutral Korea by 2050, at a two-day virtual climate summit ending Friday. The Leaders Summit on Climate, joined by 40 world leaders and hosted by US President Joe Biden seeking to restore US leadership on the carbon-cutting commitment, marks Washington’s return to the climate dialogue that the Donald Trump administration abandoned after withdrawing from

Politics April 22, 2021

An aircraft carrier will strengthen South Korea’s naval power at a relatively affordable price, the Navy said Wednesday, amid controversy surrounding its 2 trillion-won ($1.8 billion) project to build the first aircraft carrier by 2033. “The homegrown weapon will rein in North Korea’s aggression and will put us at advantage in the event of conflict. It will help advance our interests in peacetime,” a senior Navy official said at a briefing. The official said Seoul needs

Defense April 21, 2021

Conscripting women into the armed forces now would be premature, the Ministry of National Defense said Tuesday, amid fresh debate about making military service compulsory for both women and men. At present, all able-bodied men in South Korea are required to serve in the military or complete an alternative public service program. Women can join the military as officers or noncommissioned officers. “Expanding conscription isn’t a yes-no, black-and-white question because we need to l

Defense April 20, 2021

Defense Minister Suh Wook and Gen. Won In-choul, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, received their first doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine on Friday as they prepared to travel overseas. Suh is taking part in the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 4-5, while Won will attend a change-of-command ceremony for the US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii later this month. There Won will meet with his US and Japanese counterparts to discuss expanding military ties. South Korea’s

Defense April 16, 2021

South Korea and Indonesia will soon resume work on their joint fighter jet project, as Indonesia works to catch up on its already late payments and return engineers to production lines here, Korea’s arms procurement agency said Thursday. The Indonesian defense minister, who took part in the rollout ceremony here on April 9, when Korea revealed a prototype jet, agreed to work out a plan for the resumption of the project, saying Indonesia remains committed to the joint work, a senior agency

Defense April 16, 2021

The fruit of South Korea’s 20-year quest to make a more independent military with locally built fighter jets took shape Friday, as it unveiled the prototype of its first homegrown jet, the KF-21 Boramae.  President Moon Jae-in hailed the event as marking a new era of self-reliance in the military, describing the jet as the new backbone of the Air Force. The vision of deploying homegrown warplanes by 2015, announced by late President Kim Dae-jung in 2001, was initially met with doubt

Defense April 14, 2021

South Korea’s first homegrown fighter jet, the KF-21 Boramae, will be ready to fly with weapons aboard by 2028, the arms procurement agency said Sunday. “We will come up with air-to-air missiles by 2026 and air-to-surface missiles by 2028,” the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said. The fighter jet, whose prototype was revealed to the public Friday, will have to go through flight tests through 2026 and become combat ready by 2032. It provides an opportunity for Kore

Defense April 12, 2021