North Korea showed no signs of unusual military movements on Thursday as it continued its winter military drills, a South Korean military official said. "Any unusual movements have not been spotted," the official said. The drills come after the North proposed that the rival Koreas halt "all acts of provoking and slandering" from Jan. 30, a day before the Lunar New Year's Day, a major holiday ce...

North Korea on Monday called on South Korea to cancel its maritime live-fire drills planned for Tuesday, warning of “stern consequences,” Seoul’s Ministry of National Defense said. The North’s National Defense Commission sent a fax to the South’s National Security Office in Cheong Wa Dae through the western military communication channel protesting the regular drills in the West Sea near the int...

The U.S. Senate on Monday passed a bill on extending the current agreement with South Korea on civilian nuclear cooperation by two years. The bill, effectively approved unanimously, authorizes President Barack Obama to extend the term of the nuclear energy agreement with South Korea until March 19, 2016. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from Nevada declared the passage of the bill t...

South Korea plans to sign a government-to-government deal to buy 40 F-35 jets from U.S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin during the third quarter of this year, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said Monday. The state-run arms procurement agency approved the plan to buy 40 F-35 fighters starting from 2018, with an option to buy 20 more later depending on the security situation and bud...

U.S. Army infantry soldiers will arrive in South Korea this week to begin their nine-month mission as part of the rotational force to improve joint readiness against North Korea, U.S. Forces Korea said Monday. About 800 American soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment in Texas are set to arrive at Osan Air Base, south of Seoul, on Wednesday, the 2nd Infantry Division said. "The a...

South Korea will participate in a multinational mine removal exercise that's designed to protect commerce and maritime infrastructure in the Western Pacific region with 13 other nations in New Zealand, the Navy said Monday. The International Mine Counter Measures Exercise, the largest of its kind in the region, practices a wide spectrum of defense operations aimed at protecting international com...

The South Korean Navy has taken delivery of its 13th domestically built guided-missile destroyer, which will join patrol missions to defend the nation's shoreline and harbor waters, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said Monday. Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction delivered the newest PKG-class (Patrol Killer, Guided Missile) patrol ship to the Navy command, located in Jinhae, so...

Korea Aerospace Industries, the country's sole aircraft manufacturer, said Wednesday that it aims to secure 7.7 trillion won ($7.2 billion) worth of new orders and push up sales to 2.3 trillion won in 2014 as part of its ongoing effort to become a global player in the aerospace field. In a press conference held in Seoul, KAI said this year's target order represents a 25 percent increase from the...

NEW DELHI (Yonhap News) ― President Park Geun-hye called for an “airtight” security posture against North Korea from South Korean soldiers and other officials on Saturday, viewing the North’s recent charm offensives as a possible prelude to imminent military provocations. “In India, Park ordered the (South Korean) defense minister and other security-related ministers to make more efforts to keep...

State auditors are reviewing a request by a civic group for an inspection into the use of Seoul’s payment to support the upkeep of 28,500 American troops here, amid growing calls for more transparency in the spending of the defense funds. The Board of Audit and Inspection said that it would visit the ministries of foreign affairs and defense and the Seoul Regional Tax Office for five days, start...

Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates cast late former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun as a “little crazy” in his recently published memoir, underscoring then-frayed ties between the allies under the liberal-minded leader. In the 618-page book, entitled “Duty,” he mentioned his meeting with Roh in Seoul in November 2007. Gates called Roh “anti-American” and quoted him as saying that the...

Former short track world champion Noh Jin-kyu will miss the Sochi Winter Olympics with a broken elbow, officials here said Wednesday. The Korea Skating Union said the 21-year-old suffered the injury in a fall during his practice at the National Training Center in Seoul on Tuesday. Noh was the overall champion at the 2011 world championships. Once considered the top gun for South Korea, Noh fin...

South Korea's jobless rate rose in December from a month earlier, but job creation remained strong, raising hopes that labor market conditions might be improving, a government report showed Wednesday. According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 3 percent last month, up from 2.7 percent in November. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate also inched up from 2.9 percent to...

GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of U.S. automaker General Motors Co., is recalling over 4,800 units of the Chevrolet Spark for a defective transmission mount that holds the transmission and its components in place, the transportation ministry said Wednesday. The recall affects 4,848 units of the small passenger vehicle produced between May 10 and June 7 of last year, according to the Ministr...