Conscientious objectors in South Korea will now be able to perform alternative service instead of reserve forces training if they demonstrate personal beliefs in nonviolence, South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday. South Korea, which conscripts all able-bodied men for about two years to maintain defense readiness against North Korea and requires reserve forces training for eight years after they are discharged, introduced the program in October to honor a court ruling.  The Cons

Twelve American service members and two of their family members have tested positive for the coronavirus upon arrival here from the United States recently, US Forces Korea (USFK) said Thursday. Seven service members and two dependents arrived on international commercial flights at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, between Feb. 5 and Feb. 21, according to USFK. The remaining five service members arrived at Osan Air Base on US government chartered flights from the US on Feb. 3 and 22

South Korea and the United States have yet to finalize the schedule and other details of a planned combined springtime military exercise, the defense ministry said Thursday. The joint computer-simulated command post training is expected to kick off in around the second week of March for about 10 days. But exactly when and how the exercise will be staged has not yet been announced. "The date, content and other details of the combined exercise to be held in the first half of the year are no

An Army soldier based in Paju, north of Seoul, has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Thursday. The soldier was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 in a virus test conducted after a vacation in Seoul, according to the ministry. The latest case raised the total number of infections reported among the military population to 571. Of them, 558 have been fully cured and 13 are under treatment. Nationwide, South Korea added 396 new cases Thursday, bringing the tota

A conscientious objector received approval on Wednesday to perform alternative service instead of undergoing mandatory conscription. He is the first conscientious objector in South Korea to qualify for the program because of a personal belief in nonviolence, rather than on religious grounds. South Korea, which conscripts all able-bodied men for about two years to maintain defense readiness against North Korea, introduced the program in October to honor a court ruling that the country stop penal

An American service member stationed at an air base in Seongnam, south of Seoul, has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the US Forces Korea said Tuesday. The soldier at K-16 Air Base was confirmed on Monday as having contracted COVID-19 following direct contact with a person who tested positive earlier, according to the US military. “KDCA and USFK health professionals are actively conducting contact tracing to determine whether anyone else may have been exposed to these individual

It took South Korea’s military at least three hours to detect a border breach by a North Korean defector who swam across the eastern maritime border on Feb. 16, in what appeared to be an indisputable lapse in border security. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday that the military surveillance system picked up the man the moment he set foot on South Korean soil at 1:05 a.m. that day, but it learned about the event at 4:16 a.m. Commanders were notified much later. The def

South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook on Monday chaired a teleconference reviewing the last-minute preparations for the first round of coronavirus vaccinations to begin Friday. The military has practiced safely delivering the vaccines -- from AstraZeneca and Pfizer -- to about 340,000 patients and medical personnel in nursing homes and COVID-19 treatment centers.  Pfizer vaccines need to be kept at temperatures at least as cold as minus 60 degrees Celsius, while AstraZeneca vaccines can

South Korea’s push to take over its wartime operational command from the US, which has been responsible for it since the 1953 Korean War armistice, has taken a more serious hit after a former US commander openly challenged the plan. Retired Gen. Burwell Bell, who headed the joint forces from 2006 to 2008, withdrew his previous support for the transition, saying the change would have a devastating fallout. “If the United States places restrictions on the employment of its troops i

Two Army soldiers and a Marine have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Friday. The Marine was confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19 in a test required before returning to his unit in the city of Gimpo, west of Seoul, after vacationing in the central city of Boryeong, according to the ministry. In Boryeong, a full-time reservist soldier tested positive following direct contact with another person who contracted the virus. An Army officer based in Hwaseon

South Korea’s Defense Minister Suh Wook on Wednesday apologized for the latest lapse in border security after a North Korean man swam across the eastern maritime border unnoticed. The man, who was taken into custody Tuesday hours after being spotted by military surveillance personnel, is believed to be a civilian in his 20s seeking to defect. He was captured walking along the road on the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas. “Commanders and the rank an

An Army officer in Pocheon, north of Seoul, has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Thursday. The officer was confirmed to have contracted the virus after developing symptoms, according to the ministry. It was not known how he got the virus. The case raised the total number of infections reported among the military population to 563. Of them, 554 patients have been fully cured while the other nine are under treatment. Nationwide, South Korea reported 621 new

A North Korean who was taken into custody Tuesday is believed to have swum across the eastern maritime border, the military said Wednesday. The military failed to capture him until it spotted him walking along the road on the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas. The man, who was captured after a six-hour chase on Tuesday morning, reportedly wore a wet suit and flippers, which the military found on the eastern shore in the northernmost region of Gangwon Province.

South Korea and the United States share a "clear commitment" to strike a deal on the sharing of the cost for stationing 28,500 America troops here before April, a diplomatic source said Wednesday. Seoul and Washington have been stepping up final-stage efforts to reach the deal, called the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), as South Korean civilians working for the US Forces Korea (USFK) could be forced to go on unpaid leave on April 1 absent a new deal. "We mutually have a clear

No additional coronavirus cases have been reported among members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) since a civilian JCS employee tested positive earlier this week, the defense ministry said Wednesday. The employee tested positive Monday, marking the first case since November reported from the Yongsan compound where the ministry and the JCS headquarters are located. "Around 80 people, including those who came into contact with the man, underwent virus tests so far, and all of them tested