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." ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

Harassment and abuse by senior officers still rampant: lawmakers There will be a serious shortage of military sailors and pilots as the country is stepping up efforts to secure scores of new high-tech warships and aircraft to enhance national defense, a lawmaker claimed Thursday. Based on parliamentary inspection reports from the Navy, Rep. Seo Jong-pyo of the main opposition Democratic Party s...

Suspicion has been raised the Defense Ministry underreported the amount of money it would have to pay for a U.S. military relocation project in an apparent move to circumvent public criticism. A diplomatic cable revealed by WikiLeaks indicated that the ministry of the former Roh Moo-hyun government in 2007 significantly downplayed the amount it would shoulder for the relocation of the U.S. Force...

No money set aside for project to purchase presidential airplane The government has earmarked some 33.15 trillion won ($28.13 billion) for the 2012 defense budget, up 5.6 percent from this year’s budget, aiming to make the military “truly combat-ready,” officials said Tuesday. It seeks to set aside 23.02 trillion won for the operation of the military power and 10.1 trillion won for enhancing de...

More than twice as many South Korean soldiers and officers have been charged with violating the anti-communist National Security Law in the current conservative government than in the previous liberal administration, a report showed Tuesday. The law strictly prohibits distribution of publications praising the North or all activities sympathetic to the communist state. South Korea is technically ...

The state military acquisition agency has continued to sign contracts with local firms with a track record of irregularities, making it difficult to stamp out corruptive practices in defense deals, a ruling party lawmaker said Monday. Rep. Chung Mi-kyung of the Grand National Party said during the parliamentary inspection that since 2006 when the Defense Acquisition Program Administration opened...

U.S. surveillance planes cost almost five times the amount first budgeted for South Korea is seriously considering halting its plan to purchase Global Hawk surveillance planes as their price has more than doubled, a local daily reported Monday. Seoul has sought to deploy four of the high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles by 2015 with a budget of 450 billion won ($379 million). But the asking pr...