The military will place female officers in more combat duties that have so far been closed to them, a senior official said Thursday. Boo Jae-won, head of the personnel planning bureau at the defense ministry, said 12 combat branches will be open to female soldiers from 2012 to 2014. “We will open up artillery and armor branches of the Army to women,” Boo said. “Our plans are to have 7 percent o...

SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- The military will place female officers in more combat duties that have so far been closed to them, a senior official said Thursday. Boo Jae-won, head of the personnel planning bureau at the defense ministry, said 12 combat branches will be open to female soldiers from 2012 to 2014. "We will open up artillery and armor branches of the Army to women," Boo said. "Our p...

The U.S. is poised to start flying a spy plane near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to acquire further intelligence on North Korea, a report said. In an article dated Monday, the Stars and Stripes, a U.S. military newspaper, quoted U.S. Air Force officials as saying the U.S. was negotiating with South Korea to fly Global Hawk spy aircraft near the DMZ and the deal was "very close" to being done. "...

The Ministry of National Defense plans to introduce enhanced management methods in a variety of areas to cut its budget by 2.3 trillion won ($2.1 billion) by 2015, officials said Wednesday. It has decided on around 10 tasks to enhance efficiency in managing military facilities and equipment, and to remove wasteful spending. “In areas of military power enhancement, logistical support and defense...

Professor claims replacement of USFK may cost W36tr South Korea may have to provide support worth 30-40 trillion won ($27.8-37 billion) to U.S. troops that will be augmented to fight here in case of a war under a bilateral accord, a defense professor recently claimed. Kwon Heon-cheol, professor at National Defense University, also said that should the U.S. Forces Korea be withdrawn, it may cost...

South Korea bought military weapons worth 982 billion won ($910 million) from the United States last year, a state-run arms procurement agency said Monday. Seoul's arms purchase from its strongest political ally accounted for roughly 66 percent of its total arms procurement, according to the report released by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). Asia's fourth-largest economy ...

An artificial seismic event that occurred at the time of the sinking of the Cheonan last year indicates that an explosion was the cause of the disaster, a study showed Wednesday. Hong Tae-kyung, a South Korean professor at Yonsei University, wrote in a recent paper that a tremor of 1.5 magnitude occurred at the time of the ship sinking on March 26 last year in the Yellow Sea. In the paper, publi...

South Korea's Coast Guard said on Tuesday that it carried out an emergency exercise near the Ieodo research station south of Jeju Island. The exercise took place near the Ieodo Ocean Research Station, located 150 kilometers south of the resort island, and within the country's exclusive economic zone, authorities said. Coast Guard cutters from Jeju and Seogwipo were used in the exercise that aim...

By Song Sang-ho The Obama administration is consulting with the U.S. Congress on plans to sell to South Korea Global Hawk surveillance planes and related ground facilities, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing two sources. South Korea has been seeking to purchase the high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle as part of efforts to bolster its defense capabilities following the two attacks by North ...

The Defense Ministry will hold a ceremony to break ground on new elementary and high schools to be built for children of U.S. military personnel in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Friday, officials said Thursday. Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. James D. Thurman, and other military and government officials will attend the ceremony to mark the beginning of the first ...

A Seoul court has ordered the South Korean government to compensate the Seoul city government for environmental damage caused by an oil leak from a U.S. military camp here, the city said Thursday. The Seoul Central District Court handed down the ruling in favor of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which filed the damages suit asking the central government to pay 340 million won ($319,608) the c...

Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin is to visit Indonesia early next month to seal a $1 billion deal that would result in South Korea’s first submarine exports. If the deal is secured, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine, which is likely to be chosen as the preferred bidder by the Indonesian government, will sign a memorandum of understanding to sell three 1,400-ton submarines to the Southeast Asian countr...

The Defense Ministry has requested that the Education Ministry revise the criteria for high-school modern Korean history textbooks to strengthen students’ security awareness, officials said Tuesday. In a formal request to the Education Ministry on Aug. 12, it expressed concern that some current textbooks did not properly explain the legitimacy of the Republic of Korea and security threats North ...