The Korea Herald

[Newsmaker] 3 years after attack, Yeonpyeongdo fortified

Nov 20, 2013

A photo exhibition is held to mark the third anniversary of North Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeongdo Island at a park in Incheon on Tuesday, four days before the national commemoration of the attack. (Yonhap News.) Since North Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeongdo Island three years ago, South Korea has built a tighter defense posture to safeguard its frontline islands with more troops, advanced weapon...
S. Korea steps up defense on northwestern islands

Nov 20, 2013

South Korea has beefed up its forces on a group of northwestern islands along the tensely guarded maritime border with North Korea to counter provocations from its archrival, military officials said Wednesday. Following the North's shelling of a front-line island in 2010, Seoul has increased forces and firepower near the area to enhance strike capabilities, but some of the weapons systems were n...
Ex-USFK chief says S. Korea needs mixture of F-35s, F-15s

Nov 20, 2013

South Korea should not cross off F-15 fighter jets from its shopping list aimed at boosting combat capability, a former top U.S. military commander in Korea said Tuesday. "In a real sense, a mix of F-35s and F-15s is the right decision," retired Gen. John Tilelli told reporters. His comments came amid media reports that South Korea will likely announce plans to buy 40 F-35s in the coming weeks....
South Korea to hire 11 civilians for UAE base

Nov 19, 2013

The Defense Ministry plans to pick 11 civilians to work as members of its military contingent in the United Arab Emirates. The plan is part of efforts to create employment opportunities for retirees and other job seekers. It is also pushing a law that governs procedures to deploy troops and extend their dispatch, so as to quicken the domestic approval process for overseas activities including di...
PM calls for higher defense budget

Nov 19, 2013

Prime Minister Chung Hong-won said Tuesday he believes South Korea should increase its defense budget to 3 percent of gross domestic product, citing the country's "security realities." Chung made the remark during a parliamentary interpellation session after Rep. Kim Eul-dong of the ruling Saenuri Party accused the government of lacking commitment to national security as it did not set aside eno...
Seoul cautions Tokyo over collective self-defense move

Nov 13, 2013

Vice Defense Minister Baek Seung-joo told his Japanese counterpart Wednesday that Tokyo’s exercise of the right to collective self-defense should not have negative impacts on regional stability and peninsular security. Baek held bilateral talks with Japanese Vice Defense Minister Masanori Nishi on the sidelines of the Seoul Defense Dialogue, an international security forum hosted by Seoul’s Defe...
East Asia needs more spaces for dialogue: OSCE chief

Nov 13, 2013

Lamberto Zannier calls for institutional dialogue to resolve conflicts in region
Seoul Defense Dialogue: New horizons for Korea’s diplomacy

Nov 13, 2013

Hwang Jae-ho During President Park Geun-hye’s recent visit to Southeast Asia, an agreement was made to install an ASEAN-Korea security dialogue. Now with the Seoul Defense Dialogue in Northeast Asia, a vice minister level dialogue platform is on track. The SDD has become the two wings of Korea’s multilateral security diplomacy. If we add a Korea-Eurasia security dialogue based on the Eurasia In...
U.N. official cautions against Asia armament

Nov 12, 2013

The U.N. disarmament chief cautioned against increasing arms buildup in East Asia, calling for efforts to establish multilateral dialogue to improve mutual understanding and regional security. In a recent interview, Angela Kane, the high representative for Disarmament Affairs at the U.N., noted that under a collective security mechanism, military expenditures in Europe have decreased, whereas As...
S. Korea can expect lower prices of F-35 fighter jets: expert

Nov 8, 2013

Seeking a new budget and vender for its next-generation fighter jet procurement program, South Korea may be offered lower prices of F-35s than Lockheed Martin originally proposed, a U.S. defense industry expert said Thursday. South Korea has delayed the selection of a winning bidder as it weighs the pros and cons of the F-35, Boeing's F-15SE and the Eurofighter Typhoon. Lockheed and Eurofighter...
Seoul to host international security forum next week

Nov 7, 2013

The Defense Ministry will hold an annual forum next week to discuss ways to boost mutual trust and cooperation among Asia-Pacific militaries, organizers said Thursday. The three-day Seoul Defense Dialogue 2013 will kick off in Seoul on Monday with nuclear proliferation, cyber security and regional comprehensive security cooperation architecture as the main agenda. The SDD will bring together so...
War Memorial honors late Adm. Sohn as hero

Nov 7, 2013

The War Memorial of Korea on Thursday held a ceremony to designate late Admiral Sohn Won-il, the country’s first chief of naval operations, as patriotic hero of the month. Some 200 Navy and Marine troops and top officials attended the ceremony in Seoul. Also at the event were Sohn’s family members, including his widow Hong Eun-hye and eldest son Sohn Myoung-won. Hong Eun-hye, widow of Sohn Won-...
PACOM chief says OPCON transfer timing itself not important

Nov 6, 2013

South Korea and the United States, which are now discussing the proper timing of an operational control (OPCON) transfer, should not be distracted from the important task of beefing up their joint combat posture, a top U.S. military commander said Tuesday. The allies will eventually make a "conditions-based" decision on whether to push back the schedule for the OPCON transition, currently set fo...
[Graphic News] 66% of Korea‘s arms imports brokered by private dealers

Nov 4, 2013

About two-thirds of Seoul’s weapons imports were brokered by private dealers, according to data from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. The government purchased foreign weapons systems worth 16.7 trillion won ($15.7 billion) in total from 2007-12. Of the total, weapons worth some 11.41 trillion won, or 66.1 percent, were purchased through private dealers, while the rest were acquired...
[Newsmaker] Defense Security Command mired in politics

Nov 3, 2013

The Defense Ministry’s Criminal Investigative Command chief Maj. Gen. Baek Nak-jong (standing) answers questions from lawmakers during a parliamentary audit last week, also attended by Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin (center) and Defense Security Command chief Lt. Gen. Lee Jae-su (right). (Yonhap News) The Defense Security Command is facing a sweeping reform after Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin rep...