President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden will discuss climate change at a virtual Earth Day summit on April 22, in their first video conference since Biden took office, a local media outlet reported Wednesday. They had a phone conversation last month. “The US is driving the discussion on the agenda,” a Seoul official said, pointing out the US-hosted gathering will mark Washington’s return to the carbon-cutting commitment. Biden reversed the Trump administration’s

Politics March 3, 2021

North Korea’s propaganda outlet on Tuesday slammed the Harvard Law School professor who claimed that “comfort women” were voluntary prostitutes. Comfort women is a euphemism for women from Korea and other countries who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military before and during World War II. Mark Ramseyer, Mitsubishi professor of Japanese legal studies at Harvard Law School, earlier prompted international outcry with his paper arguing that the sex slaves will

North Korea March 2, 2021

South Korea’s Navy saw its yearslong dream come true on Feb. 22, when the Ministry of National Defense approved a plan to build the nation’s first light aircraft carrier by 2033. But experts say that the Navy could do better to assure the skeptics opposing the 2 trillion-won ($1.8 billion) project.  First discussed in 1996, the project is strongly backed this time by a united Navy, with its chief appealing to the public that the weapon would help South

Defense March 1, 2021

The US State Department said North Korea’s border shutdowns to combat the pandemic are preventing the country from receiving outside help from humanitarian aid groups. “These severe measures have significantly hindered the efforts of humanitarian organizations, UN agencies, and other countries to deliver aid to those most in need after they received swift exemptions from the 1718 Committee,” the State Department told Voice of America on Sunday The statement came in response t

North Korea March 1, 2021

South Korea and the United States are close to inking an agreement that could settle a prolonged dispute over how they should share the cost of maintaining 28,500 US troops here, the Wall Street Journal said Friday. The two allies, whose talks have continually fallen apart since September 2019 because of differences over how much of the burden Seoul should shoulder, are reportedly set to sign a five-year accord. Seoul would pay about $1.3 billion in the fifth year, almost half the cost of stat

Defense Feb. 28, 2021

Conscientious objectors in South Korea will now be able to perform alternative service instead of reserve forces training if they demonstrate personal beliefs in nonviolence, South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday. South Korea, which conscripts all able-bodied men for about two years to maintain defense readiness against North Korea and requires reserve forces training for eight years after they are discharged, introduced the program in October to honor a court ruling.  The Cons

Defense Feb. 25, 2021

A conscientious objector received approval on Wednesday to perform alternative service instead of undergoing mandatory conscription. He is the first conscientious objector in South Korea to qualify for the program because of a personal belief in nonviolence, rather than on religious grounds. South Korea, which conscripts all able-bodied men for about two years to maintain defense readiness against North Korea, introduced the program in October to honor a court ruling that the country stop penal

Defense Feb. 24, 2021

It took South Korea’s military at least three hours to detect a border breach by a North Korean defector who swam across the eastern maritime border on Feb. 16, in what appeared to be an indisputable lapse in border security. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday that the military surveillance system picked up the man the moment he set foot on South Korean soil at 1:05 a.m. that day, but it learned about the event at 4:16 a.m. Commanders were notified much later. The def

Defense Feb. 23, 2021

South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook on Monday chaired a teleconference reviewing the last-minute preparations for the first round of coronavirus vaccinations to begin Friday. The military has practiced safely delivering the vaccines -- from AstraZeneca and Pfizer -- to about 340,000 patients and medical personnel in nursing homes and COVID-19 treatment centers.  Pfizer vaccines need to be kept at temperatures at least as cold as minus 60 degrees Celsius, while AstraZeneca vaccines can

Defense Feb. 22, 2021

South Korea’s push to take over its wartime operational command from the US, which has been responsible for it since the 1953 Korean War armistice, has taken a more serious hit after a former US commander openly challenged the plan. Retired Gen. Burwell Bell, who headed the joint forces from 2006 to 2008, withdrew his previous support for the transition, saying the change would have a devastating fallout. “If the United States places restrictions on the employment of its troops i

Defense Feb. 21, 2021

South Korea’s Defense Minister Suh Wook on Wednesday apologized for the latest lapse in border security after a North Korean man swam across the eastern maritime border unnoticed. The man, who was taken into custody Tuesday hours after being spotted by military surveillance personnel, is believed to be a civilian in his 20s seeking to defect. He was captured walking along the road on the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas. “Commanders and the rank an

Defense Feb. 18, 2021

A North Korean who was taken into custody Tuesday is believed to have swum across the eastern maritime border, the military said Wednesday. The military failed to capture him until it spotted him walking along the road on the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas. The man, who was captured after a six-hour chase on Tuesday morning, reportedly wore a wet suit and flippers, which the military found on the eastern shore in the northernmost region of Gangwon Province.

Defense Feb. 17, 2021

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported Tuesday the first coronavirus case at its headquarters in Seoul. A civilian office worker tested positive the previous day, pushing about 20 workers into a two-week quarantine and about 200 employees to take COVID-19 tests. “The infected employee did not make a trip to the ministry headquarters,” a Defense Ministry official said. The JCS and ministry headquarters sit side by side at the Yongsan compound that houses

Defense Feb. 16, 2021

South Korea and the US will begin their biannual joint military exercises in the second week of March, carrying out computer simulations of war against North Korea for nine days, sources said Sunday. Seoul and Washington, which have held them to deter aggression from Pyongyang since the 1953 Korean War armistice, now take part in computer-based war games rather than all-out field exercises. The two allies still do not see eye to eye on testing Korea’s readiness to take over the wartime

Defense Feb. 14, 2021

Byun Hee-soo, South Korea’s first transgender soldier, who was discharged from the military last year after undergoing sex reassignment surgery, is battling her way back into the Army. In January 2020, the Army fired the former staff sergeant, a tank gunner who served at an armored unit in Gyeonggi Province, saying the surgery rendered her mentally and physically unfit to be on active duty. Byun wanted to remain in the military as a female. In August, Byun petitioned the court to reverse

Defense Feb. 12, 2021