Military police wrapped up an investigation into allegations that an enlisted airman enjoyed preferential treatment due to his father's influence, recommending that the military prosecution charge him with going absent without leave, officials said Monday. The probe began in June after an online petition at the presidential office website claimed that the conscript enjoyed a variety of privileges, including having a noncommissioned officer do errands for him, thanks to his father's position as

US Forces Korea (USFK) eased anti-coronavirus restrictions for its personnel across the peninsula Monday, allowing service members and their families to dine at restaurants and conduct other off-base activities except for visiting bars and clubs. The lowering of the Health Protection Condition (HPCON) level by one notch to the second-lowest level of "Bravo" from "Charlie" came as South Korea has seen a marked slowdown in the number of new COVID-19 cases. USFK lowered the H

The Defense Ministry said Monday it plans to roll out enhanced submarines in the next five years that will be capable of carrying more ballistic missiles, as part of a long-term initiative to beef up South Korea’s military capabilities. It also plans to develop its own interceptor system like Israel’s Iron Dome to defend the country’s core infrastructure in the capital area against North Korea’s long-range artillery threats. “We have in mind 3,600- and 4,000-ton

South Korea will begin developing its own interceptor system like Israel's Iron Dome in the next five years to defend the country's core infrastructure in the capital area against North Korea's long-range artillery threats, the defense ministry said Monday. Unveiling its defense blueprint for 2021-2025, the ministry also said it will officially begin procedures to acquire a light aircraft carrier next year and start the production of a homegrown fighter jet which is currently under developmen

US Forces Korea (USFK) said Friday it will ease anti-virus restrictions for its personnel across the Korean Peninsula next week, allowing service members to dine at restaurants and conduct other off-base activities except for visiting bars and clubs. The decision to lower the Health Protection Condition (HPCON) level by one notch to the second-lowest level of "Bravo" from the current "Charlie" comes as South Korea has seen a slowdown in the number of new coronavirus cases.

Radar experts call airborne radar the “flower of radar” for all the cutting-edge technologies used in its development. It is also the most difficult and challenging R&D field, as only a limited number of advanced countries have the original, proprietary technologies. Dubbed “the eyes of KF-X,” active electronically scanned array, or AESA, radar is the core gadget for Korea’s indigenous KF-X fighter jets, which provides detection and tracking of multiple air,

Veteran state auditor becomes go-to troubleshooter for local defense firms looking to tap global market

WASHINGTON -- The US State Department has named a new envoy for defense cost-sharing negotiations with South Korea and other nations, a department spokesperson said Monday. Donna Welton, who recently served as assistant chief of mission at the US Embassy in Afghanistan, will succeed Jim DeHart, who was appointed last week as the US coordinator for the Arctic region. "As Mr. DeHart's successor, Ms. Welton will pick up where Jim left off in regards to the ROK Special Measures Agreement, th

The 24-year-old North Korean defector who recently returned to the North was detected multiple times by the South Korean military before reaching his destination, an internal investigation revealed Friday. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the defector, identified only by the surname Kim, took a cab to Ganghwado, an island west of Incheon bordering the North, crawled through a drainpipe and cut through rusty barbed-wire fences. It took Kim about two hours to complete the journey,

South Korea's first military communications satellite successfully reached its final position in the geostationary orbit Friday, 10 days after its liftoff, the arms procurement agency said. The Anasis-II, launched last week from Florida atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket manufactured by US commercial space firm SpaceX, arrived at the position in fixed orbit some 36,000 kilometers above the Earth at 7:11 a.m. (Korean time), according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. The South Ko

The defense ministry announced Thursday that two southeastern counties have agreed to co-host a new military airport, a breakthrough that will speed up the relocation process that had stalled for months. According to the ministry, the counties of Gunwi and Uiseong in North Gyeongsang Province have come to an agreement on jointly hosting the airport, which will be moved from the southeastern metropolitan city of Daegu. The ministry said in January that Gunwi and Uiseong would be the site for t

South Korea and the United States share a "firm" understanding on the role and importance of the US Forces Korea (USFK), the defense ministry said Thursday, amid concerns Washington may try to cut USFK troop levels just as it did for troops in Germany. The US military earlier announced the plan that calls for withdrawing about 12,000 troops out of 36,000 US forces and relocating about half of them to other regions in Europe to keep Russia in check. Addressing the possibility that Pr

With a major hurdle lifted on rocket propellants, South Korea is set to double up its efforts to build a foothold in space, eyeing, above anything else, the country’s first ship to land on the moon and its first spy satellite, experts said Wednesday.  President Moon Jae-in, addressing the revision in a Korea-US missile pact announced the previous day, signaled a push to secure “complete missile sovereignty,” while expressing hopes to see industries affected by the latest

The defense ministry decided to hold this year's regular training sessions for reserve forces in a scaled-back manner starting in September after monthslong delay due to the new coronavirus, officials said Wednesday. The training for the country's 2.75 million-strong forces was supposed to kick off in March across the nation, but it has been put off several times due to COVID-19. South Korean men are required to go through one training session of one to three days in duration per year as rese

Starting next Wednesday, soldiers who break rules while on active duty will not face detention at a guardhouse. The military is putting an end to the 124-year-old practice, which critics say constitutes unlawful confinement. Currently, rule-breaking soldiers can be detained in military lockup facilities for up to 15 days, and time in detention does not count toward their compulsory terms of about two years in the military.  The detention system, in place since 1896, has been called uncon