South Korea's defense ministry on Monday flatly dismissed Japan's renewed territorial claims to the country's easternmost islets of Dokdo, saying Seoul does not even have to repeat explanations on the matter. Last week, the Japanese government approved 296 textbooks for first-year high school students, including 30 kinds for social studies subjects, which contain Tokyo's sovereignty claims to Dokdo. "I think it needs no explanations, but Dokdo is South Korea's inherent territory historica

Two Army soldiers and an arms procurement agency official have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Monday. A soldier in the southeastern city of Daegu was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 while on vacation before discharge, according to the ministry. Over the weekend, another soldier in the border town of Cheorwon tested positive while in quarantine after a vacation, and an official at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration in Gwacheon, just south of

South Korea’s military and an international recovery team led by the UN Command will resume an annual search for the remains of Korean and UN soldiers missing from the 1950-53 Korean War, the Ministry of National Defense said Thursday. The excavation project, which lasts from April to November annually, will begin Monday. The search has been held since 2019, a year after South and North Korea agreed to a military pact singed to end hostilities in the inter-Korean border.　 The command is

The defense ministry said Thursday that it trusts the results of a civilian-military joint probe blaming North Korea for the 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship, after a presidential committee decided to revisit the case following a petition. On March 26, 2020, the warship Cheonan went down near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas, killing 46 sailors. After an extensive probe by the joint investigation group involving international experts, So

South Korea’s arms procurement agency said Wednesday that it will invest about 7 trillion won ($6.19 billion) to build three more Aegis destroyers and buy 36 American-made attack helicopters as part of a long-term initiative to bolster its military capabilities. The Navy is seeking to produce Aegis destroyers with better ballistic missile defense in upgrades to its Sejong class destroyer, the country’s first Aegis warship commissioned in 2008. The Navy expects to build the new destr

Two Army soldiers and a Marine have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Thursday. A newly enlisted soldier in Yangju, north of Seoul, was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 in a virus test conducted prior to release from quarantine, according to the ministry. Another soldier in the southwestern town of Imsil and a Marine in the western border island of Yeonpyeong also tested positive before release from quarantine after a vacation, the ministry said. The la

Defense Minister Suh Wook on Thursday called for a strong defense posture following North Korea's launch of two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea last week. Suh made the remark in a congratulatory message to mark the Reserve Forces Day on Friday, saying the military has a staunch readiness posture to "respond to any threats and provocations" based on strong defense capabilities and a firm South Korea-US alliance. "On March 25, North Korea test-fired missiles follo

The military has launched an annual mission to remove land mines near the border with North Korea and elsewhere to promote local residents' safety and convenience, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Thursday. The military plans to mobilize 1,700 troops from 34 engineering units for the eight-month project to search and clear the mines near the civilian control area south of the heavily fortified border and the southern regions where the government is pushing to develop trekking courses for lo

South Korea decided Wednesday to buy dozens more advanced attack helicopters from abroad by 2028, the arms procurement agency said. The defense project promotion committee, presided over by Defense Minister Suh Wook, approved a plan to import around 36 large combat choppers with a budget of 3.17 trillion won ($2.81 billion), according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). South Korea secured and deployed 36 Boeing AH-64E Apache helicopters under the first round of the pro

The US-led United Nations Command (UNC) said Tuesday it held a training exercise with South Korean law enforcement authorities last week to cope with Chinese fishing boats operating "in record numbers" near the neutral waters of a Han River estuary. "With Chinese fishing boats operating in record numbers near the #NorthwestIslands, the risk of encroachment into the #HanRiverEstuary remains ever-present," the command said in a Facebook post, adding that it is "ready to r

The US military held its first joint missile defense drill in the Indo-Pacific region involving four US bases in South Korea, Japan, Guam and Hawaii, the US Army said. The Korean military confirmed Tuesday that the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade in Osan, Gyeonggi Province -- a subunit of the Eighth US Army that commands 28,500 US troops here -- joined the 38th ADA Brigade in Japan, the E-3 ADA THAAD unit in Guam and the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command in Hawaii. The tw

South Korea has the ability to intercept North Korea's short-range ballistic missiles, the defense ministry said Tuesday, after the North conducted a series of missile tests in recent weeks. On Thursday, the North fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea, the first in about a year, just days after the country fired two cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea. "South Korea has the ability and the posture to fully intercept North Korea's short-range missiles, including ballist

Two soldiers and an Army officer tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Tuesday. One soldier stationed in the city of Yangju, north of Seoul, and the other one in the border city of Paju were confirmed to have been infected after showing symptoms during a vacation, according to the ministry. The officer also stationed in Paju has been in isolation following the infection of one of his family members, and also tested positive, it added. The latest cases raised the

South Korea on Monday called for Russia's active support and cooperation for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the defense ministry said Monday, days after the North fired two short-range ballistic missiles in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. Vice Defense Minister Park Jae-min made the call during strategic dialogue with his Russian counterpart Alexander Fomin in Seoul, expressing concerns over the North's missile launches Thursday. "Deputy Defense Minister Fomin

South Korea's military is keeping a close watch on North Korea, the defense ministry said Monday, amid a report that the North may be ready to roll out a new submarine capable of launching ballistic missiles. 38 North, a US website monitoring North Korea, reported Friday that a dry dock at the North's Sinpo shipyard on its east coast has recently been repositioned along the submarine launch quay, saying the move could indicate that the North's new ballistic missile submarine "may be nearin