The Army's command and control system has been upgraded to improve commanders' ability to make decisions in real time in combat situations, the arms procurement agency said Monday. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration said it has completed the second improvement project on the Army's C4I -- command, control, communication, computer and intelligence -- system and deployed the new version to some front-line corps and military educational institutions. The upgraded system has new anal

The defense ministry said Monday it will eliminate asbestos from all military facilities by 2025 to ensure the health and safety of service members.     Around 11,600 military structures, including accommodations and sentry posts, were found to contain the carcinogenic material, according to an inspection last year. Of them, 5,450 buildings linked directly to everyday lives, such as barracks and restaurants inside bases, will first be rid of asbestos by 2022, and the rema

South Korea plans to mass-produce a newly developed wheeled air defense cannon system for use by its military starting next year in a project to replace the aging Vulcan in operation, the nation's arms agency said Saturday. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said it has signed a 250 billion-won ($200 million) contract with Hanwha Defense Co. on the 30-mm anti-aircraft gun wheeled vehicle system (AAGW). It would be a substitute for the Vulcan Air Defense System (VADS) that h

Rank-and-file soldiers will officially be allowed to use their mobile phones after work starting next month, the defense ministry said Friday. Since April 2019, the ministry has allowed all draftees to use mobile phones, which had previously been banned for security reasons, on a trial basis. "The trial implementation found that the measure has many positive effects. It has helped troops better adapt to military life and became a useful means of their self-improvement," a ministry o

South Korea approved a plan Friday to purchase more airborne early warning and control aircraft (AEW&C) from overseas as part of efforts to beef up its aerial surveillance capabilities, the arms procurement agency said. Under the plan approved by the defense project promotion committee meeting, the country will launch the project next year to introduce more aircraft from overseas by 2027, rather than developing one at home, with a budget of 1.59 trillion won ($1.32 billion), according to t

President Moon Jae-in received and honored the remains of 147 South Korean soldiers killed in the Korean War, as his government commemorated the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the conflict Thursday amid a setback in the Korea peace process. He greeted the flag-draped cases of remains, airlifted from Hawaii the previous day, in a rare nighttime official ceremony held at Seoul Air Base, a military compound located just southeast of Seoul. Titled, Salute to the Heroes, the anniversary event

On Thursday, defense chiefs of South Korea and the US, Jeong Kyeong-doo and Mark Esper, respectively, vowed to bolster “diplomatic efforts for the complete denuclearization” of North Korea, in a joint statement to mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War. Pyongyang should deliver on its promises to denuclearize and stop waging hostilities against Seoul, as agreed at the 2018 Washington-Pyongyang summit and worded in the 2018 inter-Korean military

  <During the 6.25 War> (1) Army troops South Korea: 96,140 / North Korea: 191,680 (2) Army Infantry 8 divisions / 10 divisions (3) Marines 1 unit / - (4) Howitzers 91 / 552 (5) Anti-tank guns 140 / 550 (6) Mortars 960 / 1,728 (7) Armored fighting vehicles 27 / 54 (8) Tanks - / 242 (9) Others Support units / 1 tank brigade, armor, patrol units, special forces Navy (10) Total forces 7,715 / 4,700 (11) Patrol ships 28 / 30 (12) Auxiliary ships 43 / 80 Air Force (13) Total forces 1,89

Sweden, one of the six countries that provided medical support for South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War, fielded the largest group of medical personnel at the onset of the conflict to alleviate the humanitarian crisis. Nurse Jutta Andersson volunteered to join the 1,200-strong Swedish Red Cross dispatch, even though she said she had to “look in an atlas” to see where Korea was. “I first heard the appeal for Korea on the radio, that the government had decided to contribu

The remains of 147 South Korean soldiers who perished during the Korean War returned home on Wednesday to a solemn welcome. A special ceremony for their homecoming is scheduled Thursday evening as part of events to mark the outbreak of the war on June 25, 1950. The remains, kept for nearly two years at the US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, were among those North Korea returned to the US in early 1990s and after the 2018 summit between Washington and Pyongyang in Singapore. Through two joi

A Chinese military plane entered South Korea's air defense identification zone (KADIZ) earlier this week, prompting Seoul to scramble a fighter jet in response, military sources said Wednesday. The Chinese plane, presumed to be a Y-9 aircraft, entered the zone Monday morning in the area south of South Korea's southern island of Jeju and south of the easternmost islets of Dokdo before moving into the Japanese air defense identification zone, according to the sources. As the Chinese plane appro

South Korea will begin receiving applications next week from those who want to substitute mandatory military service for other public services due to religious or personal beliefs, the defense ministry said Tuesday. By law, all able-bodied South Korean men must carry out military service for about two years in a country that faces North Korea across one of the world's most heavily fortified borders. Violators are punished with prison terms. In December, the National Assembly passed a bill a

A US spy plane flew over South Korea on Tuesday, an aviation tracker said, the latest in a series of flights apparently aimed at monitoring North Korea amid bellicose rhetoric and threats from the communist nation. The RC-12X Guardrail was spotted in the skies above South Korea in the morning, No Callsign tweeted. On Monday, six of the same type of plane were seen operating, along with the US Air Force's RC-135W Rivet Joint, in a rare sign of ramped-up surveillance over North Korea. Tensions

South Korea and Singapore held defense strategy talks via video links Monday and shared their responses to the new coronavirus, Seoul's defense ministry said. During the videoconference with his Singaporean counterpart, Teo Eng Dih, Deputy Defense Minister Chung Suk-hwan explained the government’s response to COVID-19, and the military‘s contribution in stemming the spread of the virus, according to the ministry. Teo praised Seoul’s measures to control the virus and shared h

The US Forces Korea (USFK) took key electronic equipment out of its THAAD missile defense base in South Korea on Monday after replacement equipment was brought into the base last month, officials said. On May 29, the US military, with the assistance of the South Korean defense ministry, brought new interceptor missiles and other military hardware and equipment onto its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) base in the central town of Seongju by ground as replacements. "Early today,