The Korea Herald

Korea world’s 5th-largest arms exporter

Sept 3, 2012

South Korea was rated the world’s fifth-largest conventional arms exporter in 2011 with transfer agreements worth $1.5 billion, according to a report released last week by the Congressional Research Service of the U.S. Between 2004 and 2011, the nation ranked 10th in the world in arms sales with $9.2 billion. It was the eighth-largest importer with $7.3 billion. The U.S. continued to dominate t...
Renewed military reform plans indicate change in stance on security

Aug 30, 2012

Political issues likely to hamper implementation The Ministry of National Defense renewed its military reform plans this week, giving momentum to measures that have been floating without significant development since 2005. “The plans seem to show that the military’s top commanders have awakened after incidents such as the sinking of the Cheonan to the changes that have occurred during previous ...
S. Korea, U.S. resume typhoon-halted military drill

Aug 29, 2012

South Korea and the United States have resumed their annual military exercise, the military said Wednesday, one day after the 12-day drill was temporarily halted due to the onset of the powerful Typhoon Bolaven. "Training related to the Ulchi Freedom Guardian 2012 will resume this morning after a pause due to weather conditions on the peninsula," the Combined Forces Command (CFC) said in a state...
N. Korean soldier’s body washes across the border

Aug 26, 2012

The corpse of a North Korean soldier was found floating in Hantan river in Cheolwon County, Gangwon Province on Thursday and has been handed over to the U.N. Command Military Armistice Commission, South Korean military confirmed Sunday. This is the first time a North Korean soldier’s corpse had been carried by a river to the South since September 2010. The North Korean soldier, thought to have ...
Korea plans to conduct Dokdo defense drills early next month

Aug 25, 2012

The South Korean military plans to conduct regular military exercises in waters near the easternmost islets of Dokdo early next month but they may be delayed because of increased tension over Japan's renewed territorial claims, a military source said Saturday. "The Navy has set up a plan to stage the drills to defend Dokdo for four days from Sept. 9," the source said. The plan is pending final ...
Navy’s light torpedo test launch fails

Aug 24, 2012

The first test-launch of Hongsangeo, an anti-submarine light torpedo, failed last month, a Navy official said on Thursday. The military had poured more than 100 billion won ($88 million) into its development. The trial was conducted on July 25 in the sea off Pohang City, southeastern Korea. It was launched from the 7,600-ton Sejong the Great-class Aegis destroyer but missed the target located 6...
S. Koreans visit N. Korea to discuss flood aid

Aug 24, 2012

South Korean activists on Friday visited North Korea, pledging aid following deadly floods in the communist state, after winning approval for the trip from Seoul’s conservative government. A four-member delegation representing an array of non-governmental organisations in South Korea left for Kaesong city in North Korea, just across the border. “Many North Koreans have been affected by the floo...
U.S.: Missile defense to cope with North Korean threat, not China’s

Aug 24, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The United States is in discussions with close ally Japan about expanding a missile defense system in Asia, the top U.S. general said Thursday. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was commenting on a Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. is discussing positioning an early warning radar in southern Japan, supplementing one already in place in the count...
S. Korea to strengthen retaliation against N. Korea attack

Aug 21, 2012

South Korea will mount a much deeper and stronger counterstrike than any before in the event of North Korea launching an artillery attack, a senior military official said Tuesday, as Pyongyang toughens its rhetoric against ongoing annual military drills in the South. South Korea and the United States on Monday began an annual military exercise that will run through Aug. 31, mobilizing some 56,00...
JCS moves into new office

Aug 8, 2012

The Joint Chiefs of Staff opened its office building Wednesday. This is the first time since the JCS was formed in 1948 that the organization will operate from an independent building. Since the 1970s, the JCS had shared the building occupied by the Ministry of National Defense. Before that the JCS had moved around from the Defense Ministry to Cheong Wa Dae’s satellite building in Jongno-gu and...
Defense reform plans meet opposition from retired officers

Aug 8, 2012

The Ministry of National Defense’s plans to reorganize the military’s top command structure have once again run into opposition from retired generals. On Wednesday, the association of former top military officers from the three branches of the military distributed a statement opposing the plans to the members of the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee, saying that the proposed changes...
S. Korea, Cambodia agree on sharing military supplies

Aug 7, 2012

South Korea and Cambodia have agreed to share military supplies in peacekeeping and rescue operations as part of efforts to expand military ties between the two sides, the defense ministry here said Tuesday. Lee Seon-chul, the head of the South Korean defense ministry‘s logistics management bureau, and Army Lt. Gen. Chau Phirun, the chief supply officer at Cambodia’s defense ministry, signed the...
South Korea to develop unmanned combat aircraft

Aug 7, 2012

By Choi He-suk The South Korean military plans to develop an unmanned combat aerial vehicle, sources said Tuesday. According to reports, the military is pushing plans for a 500 billion won ($442.7 million) project to develop unmanned combat aircraft along with unmanned reconnaissance aerial vehicles. “A project for developing unmanned combat aircraft is in the works along with the unmanned rec...
Korea, U.S. mulling new joint military operation body

Aug 5, 2012

South Korea and the U.S. are in talks to create a new joint military operation body to take over some key functions of a soon-to-be-dissolved joint military command, a high-ranking government source said Sunday. The South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command has served as a command structure for joint operation of military forces of the two allies since the 1950-53 Korean War. Both agreed to diss...
Korea to conduct defense drills near Dokdo

Aug 2, 2012

South Korea will conduct military exercises in waters near the easternmost islets of Dokdo later this month to strengthen its defense amid Japan’s renewed territorial claims, a military official said Thursday. The biannual exercise comes at a time when diplomatic tensions between Seoul and Tokyo rose after Japan reiterated its claim to Dokdo in its latest defense white paper, which drew strong p...