The Defense Ministry is seeking a 7.2 percent increase in its budget for next year to beef up its capabilities to counter North Korea’s growing threats and improve the military service environment. The ministry said Wednesday it requested the Finance Ministry to set aside 40.14 trillion won ($36.2 billion) for 2016. Nearly 70 percent of the proposed budget, or 27.76 trillion won, is allocated to raise the salary for enlistees, newly provide them with child support and enhance the living environm

Defense June 17, 2015

North Korea on Wednesday sent back two South Koreans it accused of illegally entering the country, calling the decision “humanitarian” and warning against a recurrence. The 59-year-old man surnamed Lee and 51-year-old woman surnamed Chin were transferred to South Korean authorities at the border village of Panmunjeom at around 10:15 a.m., the Unification Ministry said. “The government plans to check their health conditions and look into the exact account of their entry into North Korea,” ministr

North Korea June 17, 2015

Army chaplains of South Korea and the United States staged their first-ever joint drills in Seoul on Tuesday as part of the allies’ efforts to cultivate the officers’ roles during wartime, military officials said.Some 100 Catholic priests, pastors and Buddhist monks in the two countries’ militaries, as well as medics and interpreter officers, are taking part in the three-day field training exercise at the Special Warfare Command, according to the South Korean Army. The chaplains provide spiritua

Defense June 16, 2015

President Park Geun-hye and her U.S. counterpart Barack Obama agreed Friday to reschedule their postponed summit as soon as possible as Seoul seeks to forestall any fallout from her last-minute cancellation of her trip to Washington. They had a phone conversation two days after Park decided to delay her visit, which Cheong Wa Dae said was aimed at focusing on coping with the Middle East respiratory syndrome epidemic here. As the outbreak continued to spiral, controversy erupted over whether she

Foreign Affairs June 12, 2015

South Korea is seeking to facilitate the use of drones and other military tools to better monitor and guard its air defense identification zone amid a rise of unreported entries of foreign airplanes. The Defense Ministry said Monday it has proposed an amendment to the military aircraft operation act to shore up “defects” in its ADIZ management and lay the legal foundation for the use of drones. In 2013, the country announced its new ADIZ that stretches further south to include its submerged rock

Defense June 8, 2015

South Korea said Thursday it would provide equipment to help detect Middle East respiratory syndrome at a joint factory park in North Korea in a rare reconciliatory gesture.The decision was taken two days after Pyongyang made the request. Seoul will send three heat-sensing cameras shortly to the Gaeseong industrial complex, a Unification Ministry official said. Last November, Seoul had lent the devices, each worth 15 million won ($13,600), to help brace for a possible spread of the Ebola virus a

North Korea June 4, 2015

Seoul and Tokyo are expected to undertake discussions as early as next month over the details of Japan’s possible exercise of its right to self-defense on the Korean Peninsula following their first defense ministerial talks in more than four years. Foreign Minister Han Min-koo and his Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani met on the margins of the Asia Security Summit in Singapore on Saturday and agreed on the principle that the Self-Defense Forces can enter the peninsula only upon Seoul’s request o

Defense May 31, 2015

South Korea will chronicle the sufferings of the women forced into sex slavery during Japanese colonial rule, while also seeking to hold sports events with North Korea and reopen the headquarters of its provisional governments in China, to mark the 70th anniversary of liberation this year. The government will also build a hall of fame in downtown Seoul to honor some 20,000 independent fighters, while compiling a biographic dictionary to list their activities and boost related education. A public

North Korea May 28, 2015

The U.S. urged North Korea to cease escalating tension on Wednesday after the communist country was found to have been setting up military bunkers on a border island in the scuffle-prone West Sea. The facilities on Galdo Island, some 2.5 kilometers north of the Northern Limit Line, the de-facto naval frontier, are thought to be home to 122-millimeter multiple rocket launchers or guard posts to track the movement of South Korean marines and patrol boats. Seoul’s Defense Ministry criticized the mo

North Korea May 27, 2015