PANMUNJEOM -- South and North Korea are holding their first high-level military talks in more than 10 years Thursday to discuss ways to ease cross-border tensions. The meeting started at 10 a.m. on the northern side of the truce village of Panmunjom, according to Seoul's defense ministry.These were the first such talks since the two sides met in December 2007.South Korea's five-member delegation is led by Major General Kim Do-gyun. The North's delegation is led by Lieutenant General An Ik-san, w

Analysts said Trump’s remark reflects his convoluted view of long-standing allies

North Korea on Tuesday informed South Korea of its delegation for upcoming inter-Korean military talks scheduled for Thursday, amid heightened expectations for the easing of cross-border tensions following a series of cross-border summits. 　Led by Army Lt. Gen Ahn Ik-san, a total of five delegates will attend the general-level military talks scheduled to take place at Panmungak, a North Korean building inside the truce village of Panmunjeom, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said,　The announcement

When the leaders of North Korea and the United States meet in Singapore next week for a historic summit, people around the world will hold their breath in hopes of a peace deal to end a decades-old global security threat.For young men in South Korea, there's another reason, associated with their careers and personal lives, to wish for the success of the meeting between the North's leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump: conscription.A chatting app message spread recently that read, "We'd

Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, the US has stationed large-scale troops in South Korea. Though the level of troops has fluctuated over time, the US forces in South Korea have played a crucial role in deterring provocations from North Korea.　Now, the future of the USFK is being questioned amid speculation that the issue could be raised during the US-North Korea summit on June 12, prompting debate over what role the troops would play in the event of a diplomatic breakthrough between Washi

South Korea's defense ministry said Monday that it would exercise "restraint" in promoting its planned annual military drills with the United States, apparently not to hamper ongoing efforts for denuclearization and lasting peace on the peninsula.Its remarks are in line with the position shared by Defense Minister Song Yong-moo and his US counterpart James Mattis to keep the allies' regular combined military exercises low-key to maintain the peace mood. Max Thunder aerial drills (Yonhap)"(Exerci

SINGAPORE -- Asia's key defense forum will open in Singapore on Friday night at a time when regional security faces a potential turning point.The North Korea issue is expected to dominate this year's Shangri-La Dialogue, although the communist nation is not joining it.The annual dialogue comes amid cautious optimism about a historic breakthrough in efforts to denuclearize North Korea, formally end the 1950-53 Korean War and introduce a peace treaty.A summit between the North's leader Kim Jong-un

The defense ministry will revise personnel regulations to remove discrimination against female soldiers, a ministry official said Friday.The revision will require female officers to serve as company commanders at least twice -- the same as male soldiers -- rather than once, as currently stipulated."It is compulsory for male soldiers to take up the position of company leader twice," the official said. "The difference in the number of times female soldiers need to serve as a company commander may

Despite high hopes that a planned US-North Korea summit will resolve decades-old animosities and a nuclear standoff, Pyongyang remains the “most imminent” threat to Washington, the outgoing head of US Pacific Command said. 　During his change of command ceremony Wednesday, Adm. Harry Harris, who is expected to become the next US ambassador to South Korea, also noted that China’s pursuit of hegemony in Asia would pose the “biggest long-term challenge” to the US and its allies in the region. 　“Nort

Top military officials of South Korea, the United States and Japan have held talks over joint efforts to ensure regional peace and stability, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday.Seoul's JCS Chairman Gen. Jeong Kyeong-doo and his US and Japanese counterparts, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford and Adm. Katsutoshi Kawano, attended the meeting at the US Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii on Tuesday (local time).Outgoing PACOM chief Adm. Harry Harris and his successor, Adm. Philip Davidson, also jo

South Korea's annual spending for the upkeep of the US Forces Korea appears to be greater than what Japan pays for the American troop presence on its soil, a government researcher said Thursday.Yu Jun-hyung, associate research fellow at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, released the analysis as Seoul and Washington are in talks over the former's share of the cost for maintaining some 28,500 US troops here as a deterrent against the North's aggression.He put Seoul's expenditure

The flight training session of the annual South Korea-US air exercise is set to end Thursday, a military source said, raising hopes for the resumption of high-level inter-Korean dialogue suspended by Pyongyang in protest at what it called an invasion rehearsal.The two-week Max Thunder exercise is to officially end on Friday, but the air training segment will be finished a day earlier, with an evaluation session involving the allies' air force personnel scheduled for the last day of the exercise,

　With North Korea eventually accepting a list of South Korean journalists to cover the shutdown of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, expectation is growing that suspended inter-Korean talks will resume after a South Korea-US air drill ends Friday.  　Following a summit between President Moon Jae-in and his US counterpart Donald Trump, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday that President Moon expects the two Koreas to resume suspended meetings after the end of the ongoing Max Thunder exercise. 　North Korea a

South Korea shoulders over 70 percent of the cost of stationing US troops here, a progressive civic group claimed Tuesday, suggesting its cost-sharing was higher than the estimates by the governments in Seoul and Washington.Citing its analysis of the two government’s defense budgets, Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea said as of 2016 South Korea contributed 72.6 percent to the stationing cost, well over the official government figure of 42 percent. Under the current cost-sharing agr

The South Korean military will look to incorporate unmanned combat systems into manned units starting as early as 2024 amid a shrinking population, defense ministry sources said Tuesday.The sources said the military studied the effects of forming units mixed with personnel and unmanned weapons earlier this year and reported the findings to Defense Minster Song Young-moo.According to the sources, the Joint Chiefs of Staff oversaw the yearlong research, with participation from the Army, Navy and A