Defense chiefs of South Korea and the US held a teleconference Monday to discuss a number of pending issues and reaffirmed that both sides will “unwaveringly” work together for the handover of wartime operational control from the US back to South Korea. But no conclusion has been reached yet on whether or not to hold August’s annual joint drills as planned, the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul said Monday. “Nothing has been decided. The two sides are still in clos

No discussions took place on US troop levels in South Korea when Defense Minister Jeong Kyung-doo spoke by phone with US Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Tuesday, the defense ministry said. The 50-minute conversation came just days after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon has presented the White House with options to reduce troop levels in South Korea amid a deadlock in negotiations to share the cost of the American troop presence. "No discussions took place related to (the

WASHINGTON/SEOUL -- South Korea's first military communications satellite was successfully launched into space Monday, Seoul's arms procurement agency said, making the country the world's 10th to own a communications satellite for military purposes only. The Anasis-II satellite lifted off atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket manufactured by US commercial space firm SpaceX from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:30 p.m. (US time), according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAP

South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense reaffirmed Monday that there has been no discussion between Seoul and Washington about cutting back the 28,500-strong US military presence here. “We’ve touched on that issue several times before. Nothing has been discussed on that matter,” deputy spokesperson Moon Hong-sik told a regular briefing. Moon added that a potential troop pullout will not be one of the talking points when the defense chiefs of South Korea and the US h

US Forces Korea (USFK) is handling the recent surge in the number of imported coronavirus cases among its population "very very seriously," USFK Commander Gen. Robert Abrams said Monday.  Abrams made the remark amid growing concerns over the spike in the number of positive COVID-19 cases among USFK-related people arriving in South Korea, as Seoul has been struggling to curb the number of imported cases. On Monday, South Korea reported 26 new cases of the virus, with the total

No discussions have taken place with the United States about the possibility of reducing the number of troops stationed in South Korea, Seoul's defense ministry said Monday.  Speculation has mounted again about a possible US troop drawdown following a media report that the Pentagon has offered the White House options to reduce troop levels in South Korea.  "As for the adjustment of the size of the US Forces Korea, the South Korean and the US authorities have not held any disc

No discussion whatever on a reduction of US Forces in Korea, Seoul official says

WASHINGTON -- The United States "routinely" reviews its global force posture, a Pentagon official said Saturday, following a report that the Defense Department has offered the White House options to reduce American troop levels in South Korea. Citing unnamed US officials, the Wall Street Journal reported last week that the options were presented in March after a broader review of options for withdrawing troops from around the world, including in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and As

WASHINGTON/SEOUL -- The Pentagon has offered the White House options to reduce American troop levels in South Korea, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Citing unnamed US officials, the paper said the options were presented in March following a broader review of options for withdrawing troops from around the world, including in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia. The White House requested the review last fall, and by December, the Pentagon had come up with broad ideas, it said. No

Two South Korean destroyers and hundreds of troops will depart for Hawaii this week to participate in a US-led multinational maritime exercise slated to kick off next month, the Navy said Friday. The 7,600-ton Aegis destroyer Seoae Ryu Sung-ryong and the 4,400-ton Chungmugong Yi Sun-shin will leave a port in the southern island of Jeju on Saturday to take part in the biannual Rim of the Pacific exercise (RIMPAC) scheduled for Aug. 17-31. Along with the two destroyers, South Korea is sending t

A senior Pentagon official has mourned the passing of Korean War hero Paik Sun-yup, calling him a "stalwart friend" of the alliance between South Korea and the United States. In a message delivered via the Korea-US Alliance Foundation on Wednesday, David Helvey, acting assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said Paik's passing is a "great loss" to the armed forces of both countries. "He was a stalwart friend of the Alliance and a man of gre

United States Forces Korea on Tuesday advised its personnel stationed in South Korea to strictly observe the antivirus guidelines the country has been urging local residents to follow in an effort to contain the coronavirus pandemic. The US military in a Twitter post highlighted wearing a mask, keeping a safe distance from one another and not eating or drinking on beaches, after soldiers caused controversy with a Fourth of July party that included fireworks on Haeundae Beach in Busan. About 20

The United States has deployed a surveillance aircraft to one of its air bases in Japan, an aviation tracker has said, for a possible mission near the Korean Peninsula. An RC-135S Cobra Ball plane departed Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska for Kadena Air Base in Japan's Okinawa, Aircraft Spots said in a Twitter post Sunday, without elaborating on the exact time of its flight. On Saturday, the aviation tracker said RC-135U Combat Sent departed the Kadena base for a mission in the East Sea.

South Korea and the United States could scale back their annual joint military exercises in August over coronavirus concerns or suspend them altogether, sources said Saturday. March drills were cancelled because of the pandemic. “While both sides share the understanding the August drills should be conducted, things are flexible given the persisting coronavirus pandemic,” a Defense Ministry official said. The drills would require bringing in members of the US reserve force

South Korea and the United States appear increasingly likely to scale back or even call off a major combined exercise again due to the new coronavirus, after indefinitely postponing their annual springtime drill earlier this year, sources said Saturday. The repeated skipping of annual exercises, if realized, is feared to affect the joint combat posture between the two countries, as well as South Korea's planned takeover of the wartime operational control (OPCON) of its forces from the US. &