South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo left for the United Arab Emirates on Sunday for a four-day visit to discuss ways to strengthen military cooperation.Song is expected to focus on follow-up measures to an agreement reached between President Moon Jae-in and UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan in Abu Dhabi in late March. File photo of Defense Minister Song Young-moo (Yonhap)Song plans to discuss cooperation on arms development with his UAE counterpart, Mohammed Ahmed Al Bowardi

The number of United States Forces Korea troops has remained unchanged at about 28,500, South Korea's defense ministry said Saturday, denying media reports of possible troop increases.Some recent news reports said that the number of USFK troops has increased to 32,000.Those reports came after US President Donald Trump gave a public speech March 29 suggesting about 32,000 American troops were protecting South Korea from North Korea. Camp Humphreys (Yonhap)Asked to comment on the reports, the mini

　South Korea’s Defense Minister is scheduled to visit the United Arab Emirates next week in a bid to boost bilateral ties in the military procurement following the summit last month, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said Thursday. 　The Ministry of National Defense confirmed that Defense Minister Song Young-moo will visit the UAE April 15- April 18. The trip is aimed at following up on the agreement made during President Moon Jae-in’s recent visit to the UAE, where the two sides agreed to move the bilate

South Korea and the United States started their second round of talks Wednesday to renew their cost-sharing agreement for the about 28,500 American troops stationed here.The two-day talks started on South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju earlier in the day, following their first round of meetings held last month on Hawaii. "First of all, I would like to extend my sincere welcome to senior adviser Betts and the US delegation upon your visit to Korea, especially to the beautiful Jeju Island,

South Korea said Wednesday it's confident about developing its own advanced radar system for envisioned indigenous combat jets.The defense authorities launched the 360-billion-won ($338 million) program in 2016 to acquire an active electronically scanned array radar system.It's part of the ongoing KF-X fighter development project, worth 8.8 trillion won, to replace the Air Force's aging fleet of F-4 and F-5 jets.The state-run Agency for Defense Development is leading the radar initiative. It has

South Korea and the United States wrapped up a massive combined exercise Sunday after their weeklong maneuvers.The two sides kicked off the Ssangyong, or Twin Dragon, drills last Sunday near Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, as part of the annual Foal Eagle field training between the allies.South Korea said the combined exercise ended earlier in the day as scheduled and the US forces that joined the exercise will return to their bases, for instance in Okinawa, Japan. (Yonhap)Among the US assets

South Korea plans to launch an Army command Friday in a bid to facilitate the mobilization of reserve forces for the forces' founding anniversary.The move is part of efforts to make the country's 625,000-strong troops as agile and strong as possible.The number of active duty soldiers will decrease to half a million by 2022 under the Moon Jae-in administration defense reform scheme."(We) should further bolster the combat power of reserve forces to minimize the combat power vacuum from the reducti

South Korean and US marines have called off a massive combined amphibious landing exercise this week due to adverse weather, the combined command announced Wednesday.They had planned to stage the so-called D-Day landing operation, reminiscent of the Invasion of Normandy, on a beach of the southern coastal city of Pohang on Thursday. (Yonhap)It was canceled "after weather assessments indicated unsafe landing conditions for service members," the Combined Forces Command said in a press statement. "

Korea's Navy will take over a new 4,500-ton landing ship featuring speedier and larger-load operations on Monday, the state arms agency said.The Defense Acquisition Program Administration plans to hand over the Ilchulbong vessel to the Navy in a ceremony to be held at Hyundai Heavy Industries' shipyard in Ulsan.It will be the Navy's third Cheonwangbong-class landing ship (LST-II) following the Cheonwangbong and Cheonjabong vessels. They are named after mountain peaks in Korea.The 127-meter-long

South Korea has deployed an anti-piracy naval vessel to the sea off Ghana, and is cooperating with other nations to rescue three South Korean sailors supposedly kidnapped by pirates, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said late Saturday.　The ministry said unidentified pirates appeared to have kidnapped the three Korean sailors, along with one Greek national and one Ghanaian national, on Monday (local time) and used a speed boat to take them away. 　An official from the ministry told The Korea Herald that t

A combined field training of South Korean and US troops got under way Sunday as scheduled, defense officials said amid a nascent peace mood on the divided peninsula.More than 11,500 service members, including thousands based outside of Korea, plan to participate in the four-week Foal Eagle training, along with around 300,000 South Korean soldiers. The allies often kick off their largest annual military exercise in late February or early March for a two-month run. This year, however, they waited

Following its first public debut of F-35A fighter jets, South Korea kick-started its efforts to deploy the fifth-generation stealth fighters amid growing uncertainty over the security landscape ahead of its summit with North Korea. US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin unveiled its first batch of F-35A fighter jets to be delivered to South Korea on Wednesday in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. The event was celebrated by the allies’ senior acquisition and defense officials, including South Korea’s Vice Defe

Following a monthslong investigation into the crash of an aircraft participating in an international air show in Singapore in February, the Air Force announced Wednesday the accident was caused by a pilot error during preparation for take-off. According to the Air Force, the pilot from the Black Eagles aerobatic team failed to abide by the emergency procedure when the T-50 Golden Eagle aircraft skidded off the runway at Changi Airport during the 2018 Singapore Airshow on Feb. 6. The Air Force sa

South Korea may agree to shoulder a larger burden of the cost of stationing US troops on its soil as part of the two nations' deal on trade, a former White House official said Monday.Victor Cha, who served as Asian affairs director on the National Security Council of George W. Bush, raised the possibility shortly after Seoul announced a tentative deal with Washington on amending their free trade agreement and exempting the Asian nation from new US steel tariffs."If there is any tacit issue linka

South Korea's Navy conducted sea drills in the country's eastern and southern waters Monday on the eighth anniversary of a deadly torpedo attack by North Korea, a defense official said.More than 10 warships were mobilized, along with aircraft, with exercises in the Yellow Sea canceled due to bad weather. (Yonhap)The Navy staged the exercise to mark the anniversary of the Cheonan corvette sinking. It went down near the Northern Limit Line, the de-facto maritime border between the two Koreas, on M