The Korea Herald

International air defense exhibition to kick off Tuesday

Oct 17, 2011

SEONGNAM ― An international air defense exhibition will open in South Korea on Tuesday with the aim of boosting local defense exports and exchanges among local and foreign firms, organizers said Monday. Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition 2011 will take place through Sunday at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, featuring the world’s premier aerospace and defense technol...
S. Korea developing vertical take-off plane: official

Oct 17, 2011

SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is developing a new type of aircraft that can take off and land vertically to conduct reconnaissance missions, Seoul's top procurement official said Monday. Noh Dae-rae, head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), said at a local seminar that South Korea is developing a tilt-rotor type of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which has the same ...
JCS chief to attend regional defense meeting

Oct 16, 2011

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Han Min-koo will participate in the annual conference of top military officers from the Asia-Pacific region this week in Hawaii to discuss regional military issues, officials said Sunday. Before joining the Chiefs of Defense meeting from Tuesday to Thursday, Han will visit Gen. Ryoichi Oriki, Japan’s chief of joint self-defense force on Monday at his ...
208 military NCOs killed selves since 2000

Oct 11, 2011

More than 200 low-ranking commissioned and non-commissioned officers have committed suicide since 2000, a local civic group said Tuesday, calling for immediate measures to alleviate mental and physical stress in the military. Citing a recent Defense Ministry report, the Center for Military Human Rights said that the number of officers who took their own lives between 2000 and 2011 was 111 in the...
DAPA expands corruption report system

Oct 11, 2011

The state military acquisition agency will expand a corruption report system to allow non-employees to file a report, officials said. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration said that it will allow ordinary citizens to report corruption cases through the internet starting from Wednesday. It also plans to offer up to 20 million won ($17,167) in rewards to those who file reports. DAPA has ...
Seoul seeks greater authority on crimes by U.S. servicemen

Oct 10, 2011

South Korea and the U.S. will discuss ways to strengthen Seoul’s preliminary investigation authority to better deal with cases involving U.S. military personnel during their meeting next month, a Foreign Ministry official said Monday. The move comes as the public anger here has been rising in the wake of a recent string of sex crimes committed by U.S. soldiers. Next month, the two sides are con...
Gen. Jung tapped as new JCS chairman

Oct 9, 2011

Army Gen. Jung Seung-jo, deputy commander of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, was tapped as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in a reshuffle that affected five top military officers, the Defense Ministry said Sunday. Lieut. Gen. Kwon Oh-sung, currently serving as chief of the JCS operations division, will be promoted to replace Jung, the ministry said as it announces its...
New U.S. Navy chief visits S. Korea

Oct 5, 2011

Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, the new U.S. chief of naval operations, is in Seoul this week for talks with local military officials, a military source here said Wednesday. "Adm. Greenert paid a courtesy call to Defense Minister Kim Kwang-jin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Han Min-koo today," the source said. "He met with other military officials and they discussed matters of common interest." ...
S. Korea to hold live-fire drills off western frontline islands

Oct 5, 2011

South Korea’s military will conduct maritime live-fire drills off Bangnyeong and Yeonpyeong Islands near the tense inter-Korean sea border on Thursday as part of the regular training schedule, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday. The command dedicated to protecting the northwestern border islands will carry out the exercise, which will be the third of its kind this year following one in Mar...
Seoul to hold biennial air defense exhibition

Oct 5, 2011

South Korea will hold an international air defense exhibition this month to boost technological exchanges with foreign firms and defense exports. Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition 2011 will be held from Oct. 18-23 at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, featuring the world’s premier aerospace and defense technologies. Some 300 firms from 30 countries are expected to jo...
Military to purchase 40 helicopters to support amphibious landing

Oct 4, 2011

The military will purchase 40 new helicopters by 2023 to strengthen the Marine Corps’ amphibious landing capabilities, a ruling party lawmaker said Tuesday. Citing a parliamentary inspection report from the military, Rep. Chung Mi-kyung of the Grand National Party said that the helicopters specializing in amphibious landing missions will be deployed with a budget of 560 billion won ($465 million...
Korea to give disused destroyer to Colombia

Oct 3, 2011

South Korea is seeking to give its decommissioned destroyer to Colombia for free to help boost its arms exports to the South American region, a government source said Sunday. “We are thinking of handing over to Colombia the 1,200-ton destroyer Gunsan, which was decommissioned on Sept. 29, in the first half of next year,” the source said, declining to be named. “Apart from this, we are also cons...
Precision weapons would last 3-10 days

Oct 3, 2011

The Air Force’s current stockpile of precision-guided weapons would run out in just three to 10 days should a war break out, a ruling party lawmaker has recently said, spawning concerns over the country’s capacity for wartime aerial operations. Its stock of weapons including GBU-24 bunker busters, Korea GPS-guided bombs and Joint Direct Attack Munitions will run out before the end of the 30-day ...
‘Act first’ order’s limits exposed

Oct 2, 2011

Critics say field commanders have limited authority to handle emergencies The military directive by Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin to “act first and report later” is not applicable to air-to-ground operations, officials said Sunday, triggering concerns that this could limit the Air Force’s ability to handle emergency situations. According to military procedure, only the chairman of the Joint Chi...
Physical altercations highest in Navy: report

Sept 30, 2011

Navy soldiers have been more exposed to physical abuse compared to other military forces over the past several years, a lawmaker said Friday, calling for measures to curb violence in the barracks. A total of 4,670 cases of violence took place in the Navy between January 2005 and June this year, Rep. Kim Jang-soo of the ruling Grand National Party said, citing a Navy report submitted for a parlia...