South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense is mulling a plan to establish a new command for countering North Korean nuclear threats in Seoul. The plan would involve expanding the existing Joint Chiefs of Staff headquarters for responding to nuclear and weapons of mass destruction threats to South Korea, according to the Defense Ministry on Tuesday. The JCS headquarters was set up in January last year. The Defense Ministry said the new command would oversee South Korea’s “three-

Defense Feb. 6, 2024

Indonesian employees at the Korea Aerospace Industries are under investigation on suspicion of attempting to leak secrets about South Korean fighter aircraft. The incident sparked calls for laws on leaks of confidential military information to be strengthened, the bills for which are currently stuck at the National Assembly. The KAI, the developer for the KF-21 fighters, caught the employees trying to take removable drives containing secret data last month. They have since been reported to the D

Politics Feb. 5, 2024

South Korea's public agency for defense acquisition and its Saudi counterpart agreed to expand cooperation between the two countries' defense industries Sunday. According to South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on developing partnerships between the defense industries of South Korea and Saudi Arabia. Under the MOU, South Korea and Saudi Arabia will form a working group for jointly developing and manufacturing

Politics Feb. 5, 2024

South Korean opposition Democratic Party of Korea chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung is facing criticism from the families of victims of North Korean abuses and defectors over his remarks “flattering” the Kim Jong-un regime. Lee Rae-jin, whose brother was killed by North Korean soldiers at sea in September 2020, told The Korea Herald on Friday he was “utterly dismayed” at the leader of a South Korean major political party “fraternizing with the criminal regime.” In rema

Politics Feb. 2, 2024

Some Indonesian employees at the Korea Aerospace Industries have been barred from leaving South Korea on suspicions they were trying to steal secrets about KF-21 fighter technology. KAI reported the employees to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration last month after becoming suspicious of an attempted leak. The administration, a public affiliate of the Ministry of National Defense, said that an investigation is underway to determine if the information the employees are suspected of stor

Defense Feb. 2, 2024

Shin Won-sik, the South Korean Minister of National Defense, on Thursday embarked on a trip to three Middle Eastern countries of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. He will begin the trip with a meeting with his UAE counterpart, Mohamed Mubarak Fadhel Al Mazrouei on Friday. He will also visit the Akh unit, one of whose chief aims is to protect Korean nationals in the region in contingencies. He will then travel to Saudi Arabia on Saturday to attend the second World Defense Show in

Politics Feb. 1, 2024

An F-16 Fighting Falcon belonging to the 8th Fighter Wing at the US air base in Gunsan, a port city in western South Korea, crashed at around 8:41 a.m. Wednesday. The crash happened during a routine training and the pilot was recovered after ejecting safely, according to Kunsan Air Base. “We are very thankful to the Republic of Korea rescue forces and all of our teammates who made the swift recovery of our pilot possible,” Col. Matthew C. Gaetke, 8th FW commander, said in a release.

Defense Jan. 31, 2024

North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles on Tuesday into waters near its western coast, just two days after test-launching its new cruise missiles from a submarine. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired “several” cruise missiles into the sea at around 7 a.m., the details of which are being analyzed by South Korean and US intelligence authorities. “We are closely coordinating with the US and maintaining heightened vigilance and surveillance,”

Defense Jan. 30, 2024

Ruling People Power Party Rep. Tae Yong-ho, who was formerly a senior diplomat for North Korea, said Monday he will run for a second term in the National Assembly in a Seoul district typically lenient toward the rival party. Tae, who is the first North Korean defector to be elected in a constituency, said he would vie for a second Assembly term in Guro against Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Youn Kun-young. “Gangnam has been my political hometown after I left North Korea and began a new lif

Politics Jan. 29, 2024

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff on Monday said in a preliminary analysis it found North Korea’s claims of the capabilities of its new strategic cruise missiles to be exaggerated. The South Korean military detected North Korea launching cruise missiles at around 8 a.m. Sunday toward waters near the port city of Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province, the home to a North Korean base for submarines. “We are looking into the possibility that the flight time claimed by North Korea may h

Defense Jan. 29, 2024

[코리아헤럴드=김아린 기자] 신원식 국방부 장관은 김정은 북한 국무위원장이 차기 미국 대통령으로부터 원하는 것을 얻을 수 있다면, 언제든지 연내에 핵실험을 감행할 수 있다고 밝혔다. 22일 신 장관은 본지와 인터뷰에서 김 위원장이 미국 대선 정국을 기습해 의도적인 위기 고조를 통해 미국의 대북 정책 전환을 도모할 수 있다고 전망했다. 그는 김 위원장이 “벼랑 끝 효과를 달성해 미국의 차기 정부가 북한이 원하는 바를 주겠다는 정책으로 전환을 하는 데에 (7차 핵실험이) 도움이 된다고 판단하면, 언제든지 할 수 있다고 본다”고 했다. 그러면서 김 위원장이 “핵을 가지고 가장 좋았던 시절”이 도발을 단행해 북한에 유리한 상황을 조성하는 게 가능했던 2018년이라면서, 미국 대선을 기점으로 “2025년을 ‘어게인 2018(again 2018)’으로 만들려는 시도를 할 것”이라고 말했다. 최근 계속되는 북한

한국어판 Jan. 28, 2024

The Ministry of National Defense in Seoul on Sunday denied reports that the South Korean military was still putting off drills near the shared border, as per the 2018 inter-Korean agreement that North Korea withdrew from earlier. “Our military can hold drills according to its own plan, only there aren’t such plans yet,” a senior defense ministry official told The Korea Herald. “There is no official decision or guidance in place that is preventing our military from conduct

Defense Jan. 28, 2024

North Korea on Sunday morning fired several cruise missiles into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The JCS said in a message to reporters that the missiles landed at around 8 a.m. in waters near the North Korean port city of Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province, on the eastern coast. “Our military is closely coordinating with the US side amid heightened vigilance and surveillance, and watching for further signs and activities

Defense Jan. 28, 2024

[코리아헤럴드=김아린 기자] 최근 김정은 북한 국무위원장의 2013년생 딸 김주애가 유력한 후계자로 지목되면서, 북한 정권의 안정성에 대한 궁금증이 높아지고 있다. 국회에 따르면 국가정보원은 지난 2일 제출한 자료에 김주애가 현 시점에서 “유력한 후계자”라고 밝혔다. 여성 후계자 가능성에 회의적이던 기존 입장을 바꾼 것이다. 이는 김 위원장의 딸을 유력한 후계자로 볼 수 있다는 우리 정보 당국의 첫 공식 판단이다. 아직 어린 김주애를 ‘조기 등판’시킨 것을 두고, 김 위원장이 본인의 건강에 이상을 느껴 4대 세습을 앞당겨 준비하는 것 같다는 해석이 나온다. 양욱 아산정책연구원 연구위원은 “후계자를 일찍 내세우고 자리 잡게 한단 것은 그 만큼 김정은 본인이 자기 건강이나 안위에 자신 없다는 신호”라고 말했다. 그러나 북한 정권의 가부장제적 특성을 생각했을 때, 아직까지는 “(후계자로 확신할) 근거가 미약한 것

한국어판 Jan. 25, 2024

The missiles North Korea launched toward the sea west of the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday had been its new strategic cruise missiles, according to its official media. The state official Korean Central News Agency said Thursday that it had test-fired the new strategic cruise missile, whose name Pulhwasal-3-31 means fire arrow in Korean, for the first time the previous day. North Korea’s Missile General Bureau said the first testing of the cruise missiles came as a “part of the proces

Defense Jan. 25, 2024