SEOUL/JEJU -- A Navy sailor on the southern island of Jeju was confirmed Friday to have contracted the new coronavirus in the first confirmed case among service personnel in South Korea, officials said. The sailor, 22, tested positive for COVID-19 in the initial examination the previous day and was finally confirmed earlier in the day, according to the officials. He visited his hometown, Daegu, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, from Feb. 13 to Tuesday. Upon returning to the base, he showed

South Korea’s Military Manpower Administration said Thursday that it had decided to suspend physical examinations for conscript candidates in Daegu and adjacent North Gyeongsang Province until March 6. The decision was a response to the recent spike in cases of COVID-19 linked to church services there. Men who have already passed the physical and are waiting to join the military will be asked to delay enlistment, the agency said, adding it is postponing interviews for Navy and Air Force a

Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of the US military in South Korea, banned service members from “non-essential travel” to and from Daegu on Wednesday, after a surge in cases of COVID-19 linked to church services there.  The total number of infected people in Korea was at 104 as of Thursday afternoon. The commander of United States Forces Korea said service members who attended church services in Daegu would undergo mandatory self-quarantine. He urged their family members to do th

US Forces Korea (USFK) has banned "non-essential" travel to and from South Korea's southeastern city of Daegu and shut down all of its children-related facilities there in the wake of a surge in new coronavirus cases in the region. Since Wednesday, South Korea has confirmed more than 50 additional cases of the COVID-19 virus, and a majority of the newly confirmed patients are from Daegu, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, and its surrounding North Gyeongsang Province, according to Se

WASHINGTON -- The United States will adjust the services provided by South Korean workers on its military bases on the peninsula if the two countries fail to reach a cost-sharing deal in the coming weeks, the Pentagon said Wednesday. Nearly 9,000 South Korean workers face a furlough in April if the allies fail to renew their agreement on sharing the cost for the stationing of 28,500 American troops on the peninsula. "Nine thousand workers, that's pretty significant," Rear Adm. Willi

The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States will hold talks in Washington next week to discuss the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and other pending issues, Seoul's defense ministry said Tuesday. Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo will leave Seoul on a six-day trip to the US on Sunday for his first visit there since US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper took office in July last year. During the talks on Monday, the two sides will discuss issues ranging from the allies' joi

The defense ministry denied a new report Monday that the military failed to detect signs of a North Korean rocket launch last year as a maritime intelligence-gathering device was out of service at the time. The vernacular daily Joongang Ilbo reported that key parts of the wiretapping equipment broke down around February and took three months to fix as the broken parts had to be sent to Canada. That led to the South failing to detect signs in advance of a North Korean rocket launch in April, th

No discussions on possible location shift of THAAD launchers in S. Korea: defense ministry No discussions have taken place with the United States about the possibility of moving THAAD missile interceptor launchers away from their battery in central South Korea to other parts of the country, the defense ministry said Friday. Earlier, the US Missile Defense Agency hinted at the possibility of separating the Terminal High Altitude Area Defens (THAAD) unit's launchers in the central county of Seo

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Sim Seung-seob will embark on a trip to Oman and Thailand next week and visit an anti-piracy unit deployed to the Strait of Hormuz, the Navy said Friday. The six-day visit, which will kick off Sunday, is aimed at boosting maritime security cooperation with the two countries and supporting South Korea's broader pitch to expand exchanges with Southeast Asia, it said. During his stay in Oman, Sim will visit the 4,400-ton destroyer Wang Geon of the 300-strong Cheon

WASHINGTON/SEOUL -- South Korea's possible funding of the construction of a US base on Korean soil for the THAAD missile defense system has been "addressed," a US budget proposal has shown, which could run counter to the allies' agreement on the issue. According to the fiscal year 2021 budget proposal of the Department of the Army dated Feb. 3, 2020, the US earmarked $49 million for the development of the South's Seongju area, where its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) bat

South Korea's top court on Thursday acquitted more than 110 believers of a non-mainstream Christian sect who were indicted for rejecting mandatory military service for religious reasons. The Supreme Court upheld lower courts' not-guilty verdicts for 111 Jehovah's Witnesses who were charged with refusing to serve in the military in violation of the Military Service Act, saying their conscientious objection was justifiable. It is the first time the Supreme Court has confirmed a not-guilty verdic

Soldiers and equipment of a US armored brigade combat team have started to arrive in South Korea for a rotational deployment aimed at supporting the 2nd Infantry Division, the Eighth Army said Thursday.   Tracked vehicles and other equipment began arriving at the southwestern port of Gwangyang this week in line with the arrival of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas, according to the Eighth Army.   The arriving brigade is

Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of the United States Forces Korea in South Korea, “strongly recommended” that American service members here watch “Mr. Sunshine,” a 2018 South Korean hit television series available on Netflix. The general was retweeting an earlier post by Major Gen. Patrick J. Donahoe, the second in command at the USFK 8th Army, who joked on Twitter that visitors to Korea were “legally required” to watch the series. “Fair warning. If you

Demographic change, short service term threaten military power

About 1,100 soldiers are quarantined as part of efforts to prevent the new coronavirus from spreading into barracks, the defense ministry said Monday. The quarantined soldiers, including 400 conscripts, have either visited China, Hong Kong or Macao in the past 14 days or had contact with people who traveled to those places, according to the ministry. "No confirmed or suspected cases have been reported among our service personnel. We've been thoroughly implementing related preemptive me