The ruling Saenuri Party plans to form an election committee next week that will oversee its presidential primary, the party’s secretary general said Wednesday, balking at calls to launch a preparatory committee first to revise primary rules. Minor contenders such as Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo and Rep. Chung Mong-joon have called strongly for new primary rules, claiming the current ...

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― The United States is in the process of selling hundreds of cutting-edge weapons to South Korea, a deal expected to be worth $325 million, according to a defense agency here. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said it has notified Congress of possible sales to South Korea of 367 cluster bombs and associated parts, equipment, logistical support and training. The bo...

Security on the Korean Peninsula worsened in the second quarter of the year to one of the lowest levels in recent years, a report showed Wednesday, as North Korea launched a long-range rocket and escalated belligerent rhetoric against the South. The Samsung Economic Research Institute said in a report that its Korean Peninsula Security Index (KPSI), which is calculated based on a survey of about...

The United States is in the process of selling hundreds of cutting-edge weapons to South Korea, a deal expected to be worth $325 million, according to a defense agency here. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said it has notified Congress of possible sales to South Korea of 367 cluster bombs and associated parts, equipment, logistical support and training. The bombs, formally the sensor-fu...

The Pentagon insisted Monday that the decision to replace the troubled leader of U.S. special forces in South Korea is not associated with his recent public blunder. Brig. Gen. Neil Tolley, commanding general of the Special Operations Command Korea, came under fire after he reportedly said in late May that some of his troops have been sent clandestinely into North Korea on spy missions. The Dep...

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― The U.S. military purchased more than $1.1 billion worth of South Korean goods and services in the 2011 fiscal year, an increase of 12.6 percent from $991 million in the previous year, according to a report released Sunday. In its annual report to Congress, based on statistics from the Federal Procurement Data System, the Defense Department said it spent a total of $37...

South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed to strengthen cooperation in policy setting to better deter North Korean aggression, Seoul's defense ministry said Saturday. The ministry said the understanding was reached during a meeting of senior defense ministers at the two-day-long 11th Asia Security Summit under way in Singapore. South Korea's Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, U.S. Secretary o...

The United States will shift the majority of its naval fleet to the Pacific by 2020 as part of a new strategic focus on Asia, Pentagon chief Leon Panetta told a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The decision to deploy more ships to the Pacific Ocean, along with expanding a network of military partnerships, was part of a "steady, deliberate" effort to bolster the US role in an area deemed vital to...

The Defense Ministry called Tuesday for stern punishment for an Army officer indicted over his Twitter post critical of President Lee Myung-bak, saying the act of criticizing the supreme commander of the armed forces impedes military order and discipline. Military prosecutors have put the 29-year-old captain on trial recently on charges of insulting a superior in connection with his Twitter post...

The defense ministry called Tuesday for stern punishment for an Army officer indicted over his Twitter posting critical of President Lee Myung-bak, saying the act of criticizing the supreme commander of the armed forces impedes military order and discipline. Military prosecutors have put the 29-year-old captain on trial recently on charges of insulting a superior in connection with his Twitter p...

A large caisson structure to be used for building a breakwater off Jeju Island's naval base construction site has been moved into position, South Korea's Navy said Saturday. It said the 8,800-ton structure that is 38 meters long, 25 meters wide and stands 20 meters high has been placed on a floating dock and moved offshore near Gangjeong village. It said the caisson will be the third such unit ...