A US nuclear-powered attack submarine is visiting a South Korean port, government sources said Friday, amid heightened tensions following North Korean missile tests.The 6,900-ton USS Oklahoma City arrived at the southern port of Busan on Thursday, they said, to replenish supplies and have its crew rest. The submarine is reportedly scheduled to depart next week.The port call came on the same day that North Korea launched two missiles from Hodo Peninsula near the North's eastern coastal town

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Friday that South Korea and the United States will proceed with their planned joint military drills as scheduled, despite North Korea's warning.North Korea's state media said earlier in the day that the two short-range ballistic missiles the country fired Thursday were a "solemn warning" against South Korea, calling for the suspension of Seoul's planned military exercises and its purchase of what it called offensive weapons.Cheong Wa Dae said

South Korea presented Russia with evidence of a Russian warplane’s airspace intrusion Thursday, during a working-level meeting over a recent intrusion into Korea’s territorial skies, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said, as the two sides maintain conflicting accounts of the incident.　“During the working-level meeting, the Defense Ministry provided a detailed explanation with evidence that the Russian military aircraft violated South Korea’s airspace,” the ministry sa

South Korea's presidential National Security Council will soon discuss the issue of North Korea's latest missile firing, Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday.Immediately after the North launched two short-range missiles early in the morning, President Moon Jae-in received a briefing from the NSC, according to Han Jun-woo, Cheong Wa Dae's deputy spokesman.Cheong Wa Dae is thoroughly handling the situation through the "crisis management center" of the national security office, he said.  The

One of the missiles appears to be ‘new form of launch’

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday that a Russian warplane crossed into South Korean airspace this week, despite Japan's claims that the incursion violated its own airspace.On Tuesday, a Russian A-50 early warning and control aircraft trespassed twice into South Korean airspace near the East Sea islets of Dokdo, prompting warning shots from the South's Air Force. South Korea said it was the first such violation by a foreign military plane.Japan, which lays claim to the islets, also d

South Korea and Russia held a working-level meeting in Seoul on Thursday over a Russian warplane's recent violation of Korean airspace, the defense ministry here said, amid conflicting accounts of the incident from the two countries.On Tuesday, the Russian A-50 early-warning jet intruded into Korean airspace twice in the East Sea near its easternmost islets of Dokdo, prompting the South Korean Air Force to fire hundreds of warning shots, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The intrusion came

Defense Ministry slams Japan’s claims over Dokdo

The incursions by Chinese and Russian warplanes into South Korea's air defense zone this week appeared aimed at testing security ties between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo, analysts said Wednesday.On Tuesday, two Russian bombers and two Chinese bombers breached Korea's Air Defense Identification Zone, before a Russian early warning and control aircraft committed an unprecedented violation of the country's airspace.The KADIZ breaches came amid concerns that the spat between Seoul and Tokyo over Jap

South Korea's defense ministry on Wednesday dismissed Japan's renewed territorial claim to Dokdo amid military tensions over a Russian warplane's violation of its airspace near the easternmost islets in the East Sea.On Tuesday, the Russian A-50 early-warning jet intruded into Korean airspace twice near Dokdo, prompting the South Korean Air Force to fire hundreds of warning shots in accordance with operation manuals, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.Referring to the incident, Japan's Chief

Russia has told South Korea that the latest airspace intrusion by one of its warplanes was not intentional and was probably caused by a technical glitch, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday. Expressing "deep regret" over the latest incident, Russia said that a technical problem probably caused the plane to intrude into areas it had not planned to go to."Russia said its defense ministry will immediately launch a probe and take necessary steps," Yoon Do-han, se

Two other Russian warplanes, two Chinese bombers enter KADIZ without prior notice

Russia, China deny allegations of violation

A Russian warplane violated South Korea's airspace above the East Sea twice Tuesday, prompting the Air Force to fire warning shots in the first such airspace violation by a foreign airplane ever, military officers here said.The Russian A-50 early warning and control aircraft trespassed in the territorial sky above the East Sea near South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo earlier in the day for two brief periods in breach of international treaties, according to officers from the Joint Chiefs of

Defense Minister Jeong Kyeog-doo visited an Army command near Seoul on Monday in the wake of a series of incidents that highlighted lax discipline in the military and prompted opposition parties to demand his resignation.    The Ground Operations Command, located in Yongin, southeast of Seoul, was the first destination of his tours to key armed services headquarters this week, which will also take him to the Navy, the Air Force and the Marine Corps operations commands. &