Defense chief apologizes over Dokdo's description as disputed territory in education material

South Korea's defense chief has apologized over the description of the country's easternmost islets of Dokdo as a disputed territory in the military's newly published educational material for troops. On Thursday, the ministry began recalling the basic educational material after President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed immediate corrections. The material had listed Dokdo among disputes between major countries around the Korean Peninsula, such as China, Russia and Japan. "As I made t

Dec. 29, 2023

Another Trump presidency won’t affect US-South Korea joint nuclear deterrence: defense chief

A change of administration in Washington is unlikely to sway South Korea-US joint deterrence of North Korea's nuclear threats, the national defense chief in Seoul said Thursday. Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik told reporters in a press conference that he doesn’t think the bilateral cooperation on nuclear deterrence will depend on which administration gets elected in the US, “whether it be Biden’s or Trump’s.” Responding to a question on concerns that Donal

Dec. 29, 2023

Defense Ministry under fire for labeling Dokdo ‘area of territorial dispute’

South Korea’s Defense Ministry came under heavy criticism Thursday for calling the nation’s easternmost sovereign islets of Dokdo as an “area of territorial dispute,” in its latest military education material for soldiers. President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the ministry to “immediately correct” the labels in the textbook and said the “mistake should have never happened and should not be repeated.” Yoon’s orders came mere hours after the minist

Dec. 28, 2023

Defense chief calls for vengeance in event of N. Korean provocation

South Korea's defense chief on Tuesday instructed Navy officials to mercilessly bury North Korean sailors at sea in the event of another North Korean provocation. Defense Minister Shin Won-sik made the remark as he inspected the new 2,800-ton ROKS Cheonan frigate, which was deployed for operations to the headquarters of the Navy's Second Fleet in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, on Saturday. Shin told Navy officials and sailors to "mercilessly bury (the enemy) at sea if t

Dec. 26, 2023

Seoul flags Kim Jong-un sympathizers as inside threats

The Ministry of National Defense in Seoul has characterized sympathizers of the North Korean regime threats within South Korea. In its latest version unveiled Tuesday, the Defense Ministry’s moral training program called sympathizers of the North Korean regime and its ideology “threats from inside that imperil the very foundations of liberal democracy.” The ministry said in the program that among South Korea, there existed forces that “sympathize with North Korea’s

Dec. 26, 2023

Allies seek more cooperation in US arms maintenance

South Korea and the United States have agreed to make efforts to expand the participation of South Korean companies in the maintenance of US military equipment in the Indo-Pacific region, the defense ministry said Tuesday. The two sides discussed such efforts during logistics policy talks in San Diego last Wednesday, attended by Lee Gap-su, head of the ministry's logistics management bureau, and Christopher J. Lowman, US assistant secretary of defense for sustainment. During the talks, the

Dec. 26, 2023

S. Korea stages independent tabletop exercise simulating NK nuclear attack

South Korea staged an independent tabletop exercise simulating a North Korean nuclear attack this year as part of efforts to hone response capabilities against the North's military threats, the defense ministry said Friday. The ministry noted the discussion-based exercise as one of its key accomplishments this year in a meeting presided over by Defense Minister Shin Won-sik to evaluate progress in the Defense Innovation 4.0 plan aimed at bolstering the country's defense capabilities. T

Dec. 22, 2023

Army chief visits UAE, Qatar to deepen military, defense industry ties

South Korea's Army chief has made a weeklong trip to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to expand military and defense industry cooperation with the Middle Eastern nations, his office said Friday. Gen. Park An-su arrived in the UAE on Saturday for a four-day trip and flew to Qatar on Tuesday for the second leg of his trip that ended earlier in the day. During his stay in the UAE, Park met with members of the Akh unit to encourage the South Korean contingent in the nation. Park also met with

Dec. 22, 2023

Yoon calls for strengthening surveillance, reconnaissance against N. Korea

President Yoon Suk Yeol called Wednesday for strengthening surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to deal better with North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. Yoon made the remark as he presided over a meeting of the presidential defense innovation committee, noting the North's recent launches of a spy satellite and an intercontinental ballistic missile. "North Korea's provocations will continue according to their timetable, so we must always have a full readiness pos

Dec. 20, 2023

US deploys B-1B bombers near Korean Peninsula after NK ICBM launch

US B-1B strategic bombers took part in a joint aerial exercise that South Korea, the United States and Japan held over waters around the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday in a show of force after North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. The exercise took place over waters east of the southern island of Jeju, where the air defense identification zones of South Korea and Japan overlap, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, amid heightened tensions in the wake of the North's f

Dec. 20, 2023

Former USFK base in Incheon fully returned to S. Korea

The US military in South Korea fully returned its former base, Camp Market, to the Asian country Wednesday, the defense ministry said, as part of a broad relocation scheme to consolidate its bases across South Korea. The US Forces Korea handed over about 257,000 square meters of land in Camp Market near Seoul to South Korea, four years after returning some 216,000 square meters of land in the base in the first phase. The agreement was made in a meeting of the South Korea-US Status of Forces Agre

Dec. 20, 2023

South Korea, Japan, US sharing North Korean missile data ‘24/7, all year round’

A trilateral scheme has kicked off for sharing data on North Korean missiles in real time among the defense chiefs of South Korea, Japan and the US. The Ministry of National Defense in Seoul said Tuesday its prelaunch inspections have found the missile data-sharing scheme to be “completely ready for operations” and currently “operating smoothly.” The Defense Ministry said the scheme would allow the three allies to detect North Korea’s missiles and share related info

Dec. 19, 2023

S. Korean, US border guards resume armament in JSA

The security battalion comprising South Korean and US guard forces responsible for securing the Joint Security Area has reinstated armaments in response to North Korean soldiers carrying firearms across the inter-Korean border, according to the United Nations Command. The two Koreas had withdrawn firearms from the JSA in the truce village of Panmunjom in late October 2018, around a month after signing the Inter-Korean Comprehensive Military Agreement. The JSA is the sole location where soldiers

Dec. 19, 2023

Yoon orders ‘instant response’ to North Korean provocations after ICBM firing

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday asked his national security team for an “instant and overpowering response to any North Korean provocations” following the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile by Pyongyang earlier in the day, which raised military tensions on the peninsula. The North’s fifth ICBM launch of the year was fired into the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula on Monday morning, as previously predicted by a senior Seoul official last week. In a N

Dec. 18, 2023

Trump factor clouds Biden pledge to bolster South Korean nuclear defense

South Korea and the US held another round of talks on nuclear deterrence in Washington DC on Friday, as part of US President Joe Biden’s commitment to step up protection from North Korea. According to a Seoul official, both sides agreed to complete guidelines on joint nuclear defense strategy by mid-2024 -- a timeline that falls before the US presidential election. South Korea’s principal deputy national security adviser, Kim Tae-hyo, told reporters that Seoul and Washington have dec

Dec. 17, 2023

US nuclear-powered sub arrives in S. Korea amid possibility of NK ICBM launch

A US nuclear-powered submarine arrived in South Korea on Sunday, Seoul's defense ministry said, amid concerns North Korea could launch an intercontinental ballistic missile this month. The USS Missouri (SSN-780), a Virginia-class attack submarine, entered a key naval base in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, earlier in the day, according to the South Korean Navy. "With the deployment of the USS Missouri, we plan to strengthen naval exchanges and cooperation with the United Stat

Dec. 17, 2023

S. Korea, US to complete guidelines on nuclear strategy planning, operation by mid-2024: Seoul official

South Korea and the United States agreed Friday to complete the establishment of guidelines on the planning and operation of a shared nuclear strategy by the middle of next year, a Seoul official said, after the allies held key deterrence talks on countering growing North Korean threats. Seoul's Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo made the remarks after he and Maher Bitar, the US National Security Council (NSC) coordinator for intelligence and defense policy, led the second se

Dec. 16, 2023

Ex-USFK chief notes odds of misunderstanding leading to conflict in Korea

A former US Forces Korea commander voiced concerns Thursday over the chances of misunderstanding and miscalculation leading to conflict on the Korean Peninsula, as he pointed to North Korea's unwillingness for dialogue and its close ties with China and Russia. Speaking at a forum, Robert Abrams, who led USFK from 2018-2021, said that "we are back where we were" in 2017 when tensions heightened due to a series of North Korean provocations, including its sixth nuclear test and balli

Dec. 15, 2023

Chinese, Russian warplanes enter S. Korean air defense zone

Two Chinese and four Russian military planes on Thursday entered South Korea's air defense zone without providing prior notice, prompting responsive measures by the South Korean military. The simultaneous intrusion marks the first occurrence of its kind since June this year. The six aircraft entered the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone, or KADIZ, off its east coast between 11:53 a.m. and 12:10 p.m. local time, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on the same day in a statement

Dec. 14, 2023

S. Korea, Netherlands hold defense talks to deepen security cooperation

South Korea's Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho held talks with the Netherlands' top defense official this week to bolster security and arms industry ties, Seoul's defense ministry said Thursday. Kim met Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren in The Hague on Tuesday as President Yoon Suk Yeol is on a four-day state visit to the country from Monday. During the talks, the two sides agreed to begin working-level talks at an early date for South Korea's planned participation as a

Dec. 14, 2023