WASHINGTON -- US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday that he is confident of the readiness of American troops in South Korea following the recent coronavirus outbreak. Speaking with the Brookings Institution, he credited US Forces Korea Commander Gen. Robert Abrams with preserving the readiness level. "So I can confidently say that we're preserving the 'fight tonight' status readiness that we need on the peninsula with our ROK allies," Esper said, referring to South Korea's off

The military will begin allowing enlisted service members to go on vacation this week after months of restrictions, amid signs of a slowdown in the spread of the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Monday. All enlisted service personnel have been banned from off-base trips in principle since Feb. 22 when the country began to report a drastic surge in COVID-19 infections. But the restrictions on vacationing will be lifted on Friday in line with the government's decision to end the weeks

The Navy plans to participate in a US-led multinational maritime exercise slated to kick off near Hawaii in August, a military source said, despite concerns over the new coronavirus. The Rim of the Pacific exercise (RIMPAC), designed to enhance combined operational capabilities for maritime security, is set to be held from Aug. 17 to 31, the US Pacific Fleet said Thursday. "The Navy plans to participate in the RIMPAC exercises this year ... the number of servicemen and vessels dispatched

The defense chiefs of South Korea and Canada held phone talks Wednesday and vowed to cooperate against the new coronavirus and boost broader defense ties, the defense ministry said. During the conversation with his Canadian counterpart Harjit Sajjan, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo shared South Korea's response to COVID-19 and how the military has been playing a role in preventing the spread of the virus, the ministry said. Sajjan praised South Korea for setting a model for the world by suc

The military has decided not to hold regular training sessions for reserve forces in the first half of this year due to the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Wednesday. The training for the country's 2.75 million-strong forces was slated to kick off in June across the nation, after being put off twice from the original schedule in March due to COVID-19. South Korean reservists are required to go through one training session of one to three days per year. The ministry said it will

An Army noncommissioned officer is under investigation for allegedly pilfering thousands of face masks for soldiers and selling them to civilian dealers at the height of the coronavirus outbreak, officials said Wednesday. The master sergeant is suspected of taking around 2,100 face masks from a warehouse of his unit in Gyeonggi Province around the end of February, which the military authorities had stockpiled for enlisted soldiers, and then selling them to civilian traders, according to the of

US Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Robert Abrams said Tuesday that he will closely monitor the coronavirus situation in South Korea over the next couple of weeks before making a decision on a possible loosening of its virus-related guidelines. USFK has implemented the Health Protection Condition Level of Charlie for all USFK installations, which limits non-necessary off-post activities to stem the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Last week, it also renewed the current Public Health Emergency f

The military is joining the government's all-out efforts to disinfect public facilities as South Korea prepares to further ease coronavirus social distancing, the defense ministry said Tuesday, amid a marked slowdown in the number of new cases reported in the country. Starting this week, the military will look for education and welfare facilities as well as religious installations that require disinfection work and provide necessary support, the ministry said. South Korea has been taking grad

South Korea's first locally developed anti-aircraft guided missile system has all been delivered to the military, the arms procurement agency said Tuesday. Cheongung, the first indigenously developed mid-range surface-to-air guided missile, is capable of striking a hostile aircraft at an altitude of up to 40 kilometers. Dubbed the "Korean Patriot," the system has been deployed since 2015, after the Agency of the Defense Development completed its development in 2011, according to the

WASHINGTON -- The United States is looking for "further compromise" from South Korea in their defense cost-sharing negotiations, the State Department said Monday amid a prolonged impasse in talks. The comment comes after US President Donald Trump said last week that he rejected South Korea's offer because he felt the Asian ally should pay more for the stationing of 28,500 American troops in the country. "The United States remains committed to concluding a mutually acceptable ag

WASHINGTON -- South Korea and the United States have demonstrated inconsistent policy cooperation in their failure to reach a new defense cost-sharing agreement, a US congressional report has said. According to the Congressional Research Service, the two countries have generally resolved differences on trade and North Korea policy, but tensions remain in other areas. "Policy cooperation between the United States and South Korea has been inconsistent under the administrations of Donald T

The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United Arab Emirates held phone talks Monday and pledged their joint response against the coronavirus pandemic, Seoul's defense ministry said. The conversation between Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and his UAE counterpart, Mohammad Ahmed Al Bowardi, took place at the request of the UAE defense chief, according to the ministry. The UAE defense chief praised South Korea's response against the coronavirus as prompt and transparent and said Seoul has b

South Korea on Monday approved a 670 billion-won ($546 million) plan to develop a combat system to be equipped on the country's next-generation destroyers, the arms procurement agency said. The Defense Project Promotion Committee decided during a videoconference session held earlier in the day to sign a contract for the Korea Destroyer Next Generation project in the fourth quarter of this year with a plan to complete the system development by 2030, according to the Defense Acquisition Program

A group of former researchers at South Korea's state-run arms development agency are under investigation for allegedly leaking military secrets to private firms and institutions, military authorities said Monday. “We think about 60 workers left the agency with trade secrets. The National Intelligence Service, along with other authorities, are looking into the event,” a military official said, adding that authorities were focusing on some 20 agents suspected of glaring malf

Lawmakers from rival political parties are pushing to enact a special law to support South Korean employees of United States Forces Korea, who were recently put on unpaid leave because Seoul and Washington failed to conclude a defense cost-sharing pact. Submitted to the parliament Friday, the two separate but similar bills aim to establish a legal framework for the Korean government to intervene and pay the Korean workers. USFK put half of its 9,000 Korean employees on unpaid leave April 1, ci