South Korea's Army has been carrying out this year's first brigade-level field training involving a high-tech combat simulation system, its officials said Monday. The 10-day training involving some 4,500 troops began at the Army's Korea Combat Training Center (KCTC) in Inje, 165 kilometers east of Seoul, last Monday as the country seeks to reinforce military drills amid persistent North Korean t...

Seoul sees urgency of developing capabilities to respond to ‘omnidirectional air threats’

The South Korea-US Combined Forces Command (CFC) will likely start relocating to a key US military base south of Seoul this fall, a few months later than expected, with the completion of a related construction work apparently delayed, informed sources said Thursday. The relocation of the Seoul-based CFC headquarters to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of the capital, had been fo...

Defense Minister Suh Wook on Tuesday rejected President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s claim that North Korea’s weekend artillery firing violated a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction accord. During a parliamentary session, Suh said the North fired shots Sunday from a site “far north” of a buffer zone in the Yellow Sea that the two Koreas agreed to set up under their Comprehensive Military Agree...

Military feels burdened with moving during US-South Korea joint military drills

South Korea plans to hold a memorial lighting event later this week to honor 55 troops who died while defending the western inter-Korean sea border from 2002-2010, the veterans affairs ministry said Tuesday. The ministry will host the nighttime event at the national cemetery in Daejeon, 164 kilometers south of Seoul, on Wednesday, using 55 lights that represent the fallen troops. The event is d...

South Korea is set to hold a ceremony launching a new 2,800-ton frigate with enhanced anti-submarine capabilities Tuesday, the state arms procurement agency said. The ceremony for the Chuncheon will take place at the shipyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. in Ulsan, some 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). Some 50 people, inclu...

South Korea's defense ministry and state spy agency raised their cybersecurity readiness levels on Monday amid concerns over potential online incursions at a time of a presidential transition in Seoul. The ministry elevated the cyberspace protection condition (CPCON) by a notch to Level 3, the third highest in the five-tier system. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) reinforced its own secur...

South Korea's Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Park In-ho will meet the chief of the US Space Command here later this week to discuss North Korea's long-range rocket development and other security issues, his office said Friday. Park and Gen. James Dickinson are set to hold talks at the Gyeryongdae military headquarters, 160 kilometers south of Seoul, on Saturday, as the allies are striving to bols...

South Korea's Veterans Affairs Minister Hwang Ki-chul has sent a message of condolences to the bereaved family of a US veteran who participated in a famous evacuation operation during the 1950-53 Korean War, his office said Thursday. Retired Rear Adm. J. Robert Lunney died last Thursday at the age of 94. He was a crew member of the SS Meredith Victory, a merchant ship, mobilized for the Heungnam...

The military has identified the remains of a South Korean soldier killed during the 1950-53 Korean War after their excavation from a battle site last year, the defense ministry said Thursday. The ministry's excavation team found the remains of Ssg. Cho Eung-seong from the White Horse Ridge inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas in October. They were identified as his thank...

South Korea's Defense Minister Suh Wook plans to meet his United Arab Emirates (UAE) counterpart later this week to discuss defense cooperation, his ministry said Wednesday. Suh will meet Mohammad Ahmed Al Bowardi, the UAE's minister of state for defense, Friday during his three-day visit to South Korea, the ministry said. The two ministers also plan to visit the Korea Aerospace Industries, Sou...

South Korea announced Tuesday it has decided to provide Ukraine with non-lethal military supplies, such as bulletproof helmets and blankets, as well as medical items. Seoul's planned logistics support package worth 1 billion won ($804,181) consists of about 20 items, including tents, meals, ready-to-eat (MREs), bedspreads and first-aid kits, the defense ministry said in response to Kyiv's repeat...

Seven out of 10 South Koreans believe North Korea has no intention to completely denuclearize, a survey showed Tuesday, amid signs of the recalcitrant regime doubling down on its nuclear and missile programs. Rep. Kang Dae-sik of the conservative People Power Party revealed the results of last year's survey on public security awareness that the Korea National Defense University conducted from Au...

The military on Friday reported 2,014 additional COVID-19 cases, setting a fresh high and raising the total caseload among its domestic personnel to 33,052. The new cases included 1,228 from the Army, 291 from the Navy, 230 from the Air Force, 124 from units under the direct control of the defense ministry and 119 from the Marine Corps. There were also 12 cases from the ministry and 10 from the...