South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Won In-choul held a video call with his Malaysian counterpart, Gen. Affendi Bin Buang, on Tuesday and vowed to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the defense field, Won's office said. During the 30-minute dialogue, the two military leaders discussed responses to the new coronavirus and ways to further deepen their bilateral relationship, according to the JCS. Congratulating Won on his inauguration, the Malaysian general voiced hope for str

South Korea would need no extra American anti-missile defense against North Korea because the existing ones would work in tandem with other missile networks in place, former US Forces Korea Commander Gen. Vincent Brooks told Radio Free Asia on Monday. The retired general referred to the latest simulation test the US Missile Defense Agency conducted on Oct. 1, where a Patriot missile took down incoming fire using the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense radars. Seoul maintains a missile defense

South Korea launched a new Air Force unit Tuesday in charge of operating the country's key reconnaissance assets, such as the RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft, in a move to enhance the country's capabilities to monitor threats from North Korea and beyond, officials said. As the country's first reconnaissance wing, the 39th Reconnaissance Wing stationed at an air base in the central city of Chungju will operate five types of key Air Force reconnaissance assets, including the advanced unmanned Global H

A US reconnaissance plane flew over areas close to the inter-Korean border, an aviation tracker showed Monday, in an apparent move to monitor North Korean military movements ahead of the US presidential election this week.    The US Navy's EP-3E aircraft was spotted flying over areas in northern Gyeonggi Province, including the border city of Paju, as well as Incheon and Siheung, according to the tracker, No callsign.    The plane was previously seen conducting a reconnaiss

Korean American singer Steve Seung Jun Yoo, known here as Yoo Seung-jun, is waging yet another legal battle to win his way back into South Korea, his birth country. The Korean-born singer has repeatedly appealed to the Korean government to lift the entry ban imposed on him in 2002 after he obtained US citizenship, an action viewed by officials here as an attempt to dodge mandatory military duty required of all capable Korean men. And things still look gloomy for Yoo. In March this year, th

A female Marine Corps officer has been assigned to an aviation battalion after completing training as a helicopter pilot, becoming the Marines' first-ever female chopper pilot, officials said Sunday. Lieutenant Cho Sang-ah, 27, was assigned to Marine Corps' 1st Division 1st Battalion as a chopper pilot after successfully completing 9 months of training. This marks the first time a female helicopter pilot was stationed at the Marines in the 71 years since its 1949 establishment. Commissioned in

The arms procurement agency plans to pick Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. as a preferred bidder for an indigenous Aegis-equipped destroyer development project despite a suspected leak of classified information by military officers to the company, officials said Friday. Several Navy officers now stand trial, as they allegedly allowed Hyundai officials in 2014 to secretly film confidential documents related to the Korea Destroyer Next Generation (KDDX) project to build a next-generation 6,000 ton-c

South Korea on Thursday presented medals to seven US Forces Korea members who are descendants of Korean War veterans, in an event to mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the conflict, the defense ministry said. Defense Minister Suh Wook hosted the ROK-US Alliance Remembrance and Appreciation Event at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul. ROK stands for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea. About 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea to

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Thursday an annual military exercise under way across the country is defensive in nature after North Korean propaganda outlets denounced it as an intolerable provocation. South Korea kicked off the Hoguk exercise on Oct. 19, involving the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, staging various programs including joint landing drills. On Monday, DPRK Today, one of the North's propaganda websites, bristled at the exercise, saying it represents "yet anot

Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Paraguay will use a coronavirus test kit developed by a South Korean military lab, South Korea’s Armed Forces Medical Command said Wednesday. The command’s medical research lab came up with the technology called the Face Infection Control System in May, and a local firm has commercialized it. The kit is faster and cheaper in screening for the coronavirus than the popular polymerase chain reaction test, which amplifies a small sample of DNA

A US spy plane flew near the Korean Peninsula early Tuesday, an aviation tracker said, in what appeared to be an effort to monitor North Korea just days ahead of the US presidential election. The US Air Force's E-8C Joint Stars was spotted in skies above the Yellow Sea from late Monday to early Tuesday, No callsign tweeted. The same type of the aircraft was also seen carrying out operations Saturday night above the western waters. The flights came amid speculation the North could test its ne

Military officials and defense researchers were to hold their first meeting Tuesday to develop core technologies necessary to build and deploy the country's first light aircraft carrier by 2033, the arms procurement agency said. The military has been pushing to secure the 40,000-ton light aircraft carrier to "proactively respond to threats from all directions," though some critics have raised questions about its cost-effectiveness. During Tuesday's meeting, military officials and res

The first group of conscientious objectors began their 36-month alternative service at a Daejeon jail on Monday, following a landmark court ruling two years ago that obliged the parliament to roll out such a program. South Korea conscripts all able-bodied men for about two years to maintain defense readiness against North Korea. A total of 63 objectors entered the correctional institution on Monday for three weeks of nonmilitary training. Upon completion of the program, they will be assigned t

The United States did not commit to maintaining its troop level in South Korea in a recent joint statement between their defense ministers because it is adjusting its overseas troop presence in a flexible manner, the defense ministry said Monday. The two countries issued a joint communique after annual talks between Defense Minister Suh Wook and US Defense Secretary Mark Esper earlier this month, but the statement did not include a usual US commitment to keep American troops at the current leve

Chief engineer talks about challenges and rewards of next-generation military aircraft project ahead of prototype unveiling