Three South Korean service members have been newly confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19, bringing the total caseload in the military to 543, the defense ministry announced Saturday. Two Air Force soldiers in a base in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, have been diagnosed with the virus while in quarantine following a report of confirmed cases, the ministry said. A total of 15 infections have been reported so far in the installation. Another solider at an Army unit in Suncheon, South Jeoll

The Navy's Sea Salvage and Rescue Unit has kicked off its annual wintertime training as part of efforts to maintain full operational readiness, the military said Friday. Around 50 members of the special unit launched the three-day training at the southern port of Jinhae on Wednesday, which includes drills to hone skills for underwater search operations and rubber boat pedaling, according to the Navy. "With antivirus measures in place, we conducted the training to cultivate our service mem

Ten people affiliated with US Forces Korea have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the US military said Thursday. A US Department of Defense official working at US Army Garrison Yongsan tested positive Wednesday after developing symptoms. She last visited the base on Monday, according to USFK. The spouse of another DoD official in Yongsan who tested positive earlier and a service member stationed at Kunsan Air Base were also confirmed to have contracted the virus the same day. &ldquo

The Agency for Defense Development publishes Novel Weapon Systems Yearbook

A US Department of Defense official working at an American military base in central Seoul has tested positive for the new coronavirus, US Forces Korea (USFK) said Wednesday. The American working at the US Army Garrison Yongsan was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 on Monday following direct contact with someone who tested positive earlier, the US military said. The official had been in quarantine at his off-installation residence since Jan. 8, and tested positive after developing symptoms.

A Navy officer based in Seoul has tested positive for the new coronavirus after coming into contact with an infected civilian, the defense ministry said Wednesday. The officer was confirmed to have been infected in a test conducted before release from quarantine, which he was put into following contact with a person who was found to have contracted COVID-19, according to the ministry. The latest case raised the total number of infections among the military population to 540. Meanwhile, a vete

The defense ministry on Tuesday launched an inspection into allegations the Navy chief failed to show up at an emergency meeting convened to discuss an officer who went missing earlier this month after having drinks that night, officials said. On Jan. 9, a Navy officer was found dead after going missing near the western border island of Baengnyeong while on guard operations the previous day. His body was found in the Yellow Sea hours later. The Navy convened an emergency meeting to monitor the

South Korea pulled its anti-piracy Cheonghae Unit from the Strait of Hormuz near Iran in a show of good faith in the negotiation to release a South Korea-flagged tanker seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps for polluting the sea, Seoul officials said Monday. Tehran lodged a strong complaint with Seoul on Jan. 5, a day after it seized the tanker, when South Korea deployed the unit to the strait off the Iranian coast. South Korea withdrew the destroyer in a sign of goodwill before fi

The defense ministry said Monday it has extended a toughened social distancing scheme for two weeks, banning troops from vacationing and taking off-installation trips to stem the spread of the new coronavirus. Since November, the ministry has enforced Level 2.5 social distancing rules, the second highest in its five-tier alert system, following a series of COVID-19 cluster infections at barracks across the country. "Given the government's decision on the social distancing rules, we've dec

United States Forces Korea (USFK) on Sunday issued a "shelter in place" directive, ordering part of its service members to remain at home after additional COVID-19 outbreaks were reported inside its barracks. According to USFK's Twitter account, the directive dated Saturday requires service members based at Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul and Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, to stay at home except for necessary activities. It said the directive will expire Tuesday. The

The military has decided not to hold regular training sessions for reserve forces in the first half of this year due to the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Friday. The training for the country's 2.75 million-strong forces was slated to kick off in March across the nation, but it will be held in the second half in consideration of the COVID-19 situation, according to the ministry. South Korean reservists are required to go through one training session of one to three days per year. I

Seven American civilians working at US Forces Korea (USFK)'s Yongsan garrison in central Seoul have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the US military said Thursday. One US Department of Defense (DoD) employee and four contractors, who work together on the base, have been in isolation after coming into direct contact with their colleague who earlier tested positive for COVID-19, according to the USFK. The sixth case is the spouse of one of the contractors, who works at a separate locatio

An enlisted soldier and a civilian official of an Army unit in the metropolitan city of Suwon tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Thursday. They underwent COVID-19 tests after coming into close contact with another enlisted soldier confirmed to be infected with the virus earlier this week, according to the ministry. The latest cases brought the total number of virus cases among the military population to 526. Currently, 337 service members are in isolation in ac

The government will lift restrictions on development in some 100 million square meters of land near military installations, the defense ministry said Thursday. The combined area to be lifted Tuesday is roughly 35 times larger than the size of the financial district of Yeouido in Seoul. It also marks a 31 percent increase from 77 million square meters of land that were freed from restrictions last year, according to the ministry. Under the Protection of Military Bases and Installations Act, dev

South Korea is expected to carry out underwater tests of a home-grown submarine-launched ballistic missile this year, having concluded ground tests, a source said Wednesday. South Korea is developing an SLBM based on the home-grown ground-to-ground Hyunmoo-2B ballistic missile with a flight range of around 500 kilometers. It will be used with envisioned 3,000-ton-class or larger submarines, according to defense officials. "Related agencies wrapped up ejection tests of the missile on the