South Korea and the United States will hold a new round of defense cost-sharing talks in Los Angeles next week, the foreign ministry said Friday, amid growing concerns over potential furloughs for Korean employees in the US Forces Korea. Seoul's top negotiator Jeong Eun-bo and his US counterpart, James DeHart, will lead the negotiations on Tuesday and Wednesday as some 9,000 Korean workers are facing unpaid leave, which would begin on April 1 absent a new cost-sharing deal, called the Special

Two members of the US House of Representatives on Wednesday called on Washington to find a way to avoid putting South Korean civilians, employed by the US military in Korea, on unpaid leave. On Feb. 28, the US military said it had started notifying nearly 9,000 Korean employees that they could be put on unpaid leave starting April 1, because of Seoul and Washington’s failure to reach consensus on a new Special Measures Agreement over the upkeep of 28,500 US troops here. In a letter sent

The military reported no additional cases of the new coronavirus among its population Thursday, with the total number of infections standing at 38, according to the defense ministry. Thirty-three COVID-19 patients are active-duty service members, and the remaining five are civilians working for the military, the ministry said, adding that 21 were in the Army, 13 in the Air Force, two in the Marine Corps and one each in the Navy and a unit under the direct control of the ministry. Two of them

The US military asked the South Korean military to postpone their joint drills in the US because of the novel coronavirus that has killed 32 people and sickened nearly 1,000 there. Korea has reported 60 deaths with about 8,000 infections. Korea’s Army had planned to send 50 officers including intelligence analysts to the Fort Irwin National Training Center in California later this month to observe US military training. The Army, which plans to push ahead with similar drills in May and Oct

US Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Robert Abrams called Wednesday for his troops to stay vigilant against the new coronavirus despite the downward trend in new infections in South Korea while ensuring at the same time that they are ready to "fight tonight." "We are not out of the woods yet," Abrams said on a radio program of American Forces Network (AFN) Korea. "We have been working on this 24/7 with what we call enhanced watch teams at every level." As of Wedn

An Army soldier tested positive for the new coronavirus after his mother working at a virus-plagued call center in Seoul was confirmed to have been infected, the defense ministry said Wednesday. The new case brought the total number of confirmed cases in the military to 38. The private first class, who commutes to his unit in Seoul rather than living at barracks, is the first service member in the capital city to have the virus. Of the total military coronavirus cases, 21 were in the Army, 1

A series of planned combined trainings between South Korean and foreign troops will be postponed due to the continued worldwide spread of the new coronavirus, officials said Tuesday. Around 50 service members of the Army were supposed to visit the US' Fort Irwin National Training Center later this month to observe trainings there, but the deployment has been put off at the request of the US military, according to the officials. "Other similar training sessions are scheduled for later t

A South Korean employee of US Forces Korea (USFK) stationed in the southeastern city of Daegu has tested positive for the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of USFK-related infection cases to nine, the military said Tuesday. The patient, who works at Camp Walker, is now in isolation at her off-base residence, USFK said, adding that authorities are "actively conducting contact tracing to determine whether anyone else may have been exposed." Daegu, about 300 kilometers southe

One Air Force officer stationed in the southeastern city of Daegu tested positive for the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the military to 37 on Tuesday, the defense ministry said. Of the total, 20 were in the Army, 13 in the Air Force, two in the Marine Corps and one each in the Navy and a unit under the direct control of the ministry, according to the ministry. Thirty-two COVID-19 patients are active-duty service members and the remaining five are civilians w

A South Korean employee of U.S. Forces Korea stationed in the southeastern city of Daegu has tested positive for the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of USFK-related infection cases to eight, the military said Monday. The patient, who works at Camp Walker, is quarantined at his off-base residence, USFK said, adding health officials have been conducting contact tracing to determine whether anyone else may have been exposed. "USFK remains at risk level 'high' peninsula-wide and is

South Korea has identified four soldiers who fought in the 1950-53 Korean War from the remains found during an excavation project carried out near the border with North Korea last year, the defense ministry said Monday. The remains were found during excavation work on Arrowhead Ridge, a former battlefield inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, according to the ministry. The excavation project began in April in line with an inter-Korean military accord signed in Septemb

The military reported no additional cases of the new coronavirus among its population Monday, with the total number of infections standing at 36. Of the total COVID-19 cases, 20 were in the Army, 12 in the Air Force, two in the Marine Corps, and one each in the Navy and a unit under the direct control of the ministry, according to the defense ministry. As preventive steps, around 2,580 service members are quarantined at their bases. Of them, around 340 have either shown symptoms or had direct

The US Department of the Army has ordered its soldiers and their families to stop movement to and from South Korea amid concerns over the new coronavirus, according to US Forces Korea (USFK). The order, which will be in effect until May 6 or until further notice, currently applies only to 8th Army soldiers currently on permanent change of station orders or attending professional military education scheduled in the United States, USFK said in a statement. "USFK is analyzing the impacts th

From mask factories to hospitals, South Korea’s 600,000-strong military is making its presence felt on every battle front of the country’s war against the coronavirus. Soldiers, officers, and military doctors and nurses have joined the government’s efforts to suppress COVID-19, which has sickened over 7,000 people and killed 50 here, upending everyday life and dealing a blow to the local economy. “Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province are the front lines. The situation is

One more service personnel was confirmed to have been infected with the new coronavirus, with the total infection cases in the military rising to 36, the defense ministry said on Sunday. The new COVID-19 patient is an Army soldier in Pocheon, north of Seoul, according to the ministry. Of the total infections, 20 were in the Army, 12 in the Air Force, two in the Marine Corps and one each in the Navy and a defense ministry unit. Around 3,120 service members are quarantined at their bases as pa