South Korea and the United States will hold their fourth round of negotiations on sharing the cost for the upkeep of the 28,500-strong American troops here, a foreign ministry official said Monday. The talks on the Special Measures Agreement will take place in Seoul from Tuesday through Thursday, led by Lee Tae-woo, South Korea's chief negotiator for the talks, and Linda Specht, the US lead negotiator for security agreements at the State Department, the official said. The current six-year S

The state arms procurement agency said Monday it has completed the operational deployment of the locally built Surion utility helicopter to the Army, more than a decade after the first unit's delivery. South Korea began delivering the KUH-1 Surion helicopter to the Army in late 2012, after a seven-year development period starting in 2006. It was designed to replace the Army's aging fleet of US-made UH-1H and 500MD helicopters. The Army now operates more than 200 Surions, which carry ou

Elite Army unit hones anti-terrorism skills through simulated attacks

A nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier arrived Saturday in South Korea for a three-way exercise involving Japan as they step up military training to cope with North Korean threats, which have escalated following a security pact with Russia. The arrival of the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group in Busan came a day after South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador to protest a major deal between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this week. The agreement pledges m

South Korea, the United States and Japan have agreed on close security cooperation through "timely" consultation, after Russia and North Korea signed a new security treaty during a summit in Pyongyang this week, Seoul's top diplomat said Friday. Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul made the remarks, commenting on his back-to-back phone calls with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean lea

North Korean soldiers crossed the military demarcation line that divides the Koreas on Thursday, according to the South Korean military. The soldiers retreated to their side of the border after the South fired warning shots. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday that “several North Korean soldiers crossed the border into our side of the Demilitarized Zone” at around 11 a.m. Thursday. According to the JCS, the North Korean soldiers made it about 20 meters south of the

The top US court has dismissed an appeal case by a British company claiming it was wrongfully excluded during South Korea's purchase of advanced US-made F-35 fighters, Seoul's arms procurement agency said Thursday. The US Supreme Court dismissed the appeal Monday in a case that South Korea has argued is beyond the jurisdiction of US courts as the transaction was one between governments, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). In December 2020, Blenheim C

Romania has confirmed its plan to buy South Korean K-9 self-propelled howitzers for US$920 million, the defense ministry said Wednesday, in another boost for Seoul's drive to clinch more arms export deals. Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar announced the decision during talks in Romania with Seoul's defense chief Shin Won-sik, who is on a weeklong trip to Eastern Europe that will also take him to Poland, according to the ministry. Shin thanked Tilvar for the decision and anticipate

South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik on Tuesday met with a Romanian presidential official in Romania and discussed expanding bilateral defense and arms cooperation, Shin's office said. Shin held talks with Ion Oprisor, Romania's presidential adviser on national security, during his visit to the East European country to bolster strategic partnership in the defense area, the defense ministry said. Oprisor expressed hope for deepening ties in defense and the arms industry, noting Ro

North Korean soldiers have been injured and killed in landmine explosions on their side of the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean Peninsula, the South Korean military said Tuesday. “The North Korean military is pushing ahead with the DMZ operations despite a series of fatal explosions of landmines,” an official at South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters. The JCS said its closed-circuit TV captured smoke near the sites where the landmines are believed to have

North Korea's military has been carrying out unexplained construction activities inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, according to a military source Saturday. "Recently, the North Korean military has been erecting walls, digging the ground and constructing roads in some areas between the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) and the Northern Limit Line in the DMZ," the source said. The source added it was unclear whether these activities indicate an intention t

A State Department official on Thursday reiterated the United States' commitment to reaching a "mutually beneficial" defense cost-sharing agreement with South Korea, stressing the bilateral alliance is a "pivotal" relationship. The official made the remarks a day after the two countries wrapped up their third round of negotiations over Seoul's share of the cost for stationing the 28,500-strong US Forces Korea under a deal, called the Special Measures Agreement. The

By the Uzbekistan Embassy in Seoul President of the Republic of Korea Yoon Suk Yeol will pay a state visit to Uzbekistan at the invitation of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on June 13-15, 2024. Established on Jan. 29, 1992, Uzbek-South Korean relations have become an example of successful cooperation between the two countries in various fields. In more than thirty years of interaction, the relations have developed and strengthened, passing through several key milestones. In 2006, the Joint Decla

About 20 North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the inter-Korean land border earlier this week and went back to the North's side after the South's military fired warning shots, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday. The North Korean soldiers crossed the Military Demarcation Line within the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas in the central section of the border at around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The South Korean military conducted warning broa

South Korea and the United States completed a review of joint guidelines for responding against a possible nuclear attack by North Korea, according to the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul. After holding a third meeting of the Nuclear Consultative Group in Seoul on Monday, the ministry said the South Korea-US joint guidelines, in the process of being finalized, would touch on the alliance's policies and principles for nuclear deterrence on the Korean Peninsula. The ministry described th