A space rivalry between South and North Korea appears to be intensifying, extending the decades-old military confrontation between the two beyond the heavily fortified inter-Korean border on the ground. North Korea seized the initiative by putting its first-ever military reconnaissance satellite into orbit Tuesday, strategically positioning itself ahead of South Korea's scheduled launch of its first homegrown military spy satellite on Nov. 30. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff on Wed

The United States regards South Korea's partial suspension of a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement as a "prudent" and "restrained" response to North Korea's repeated violations of it, the State Department said Wednesday. South Korea suspended part of the Comprehensive Military Agreement on Wednesday in response to Pyongyang's launch of a space rocket Tuesday. North Korea said later that it will "never be bound" by it and deploy &qu

S. Korean military plans to deploy drones forward to monitor NK activities near the border

NK says reconnaissance satellite operation is set to begin Dec. 1

South Korea, the United States and Japan shared information about North Korea's launch of what it claimed to be a military spy satellite, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday. "We immediately detected, tracked and monitored the launch, and shared related information among South Korea, the United States and Japan, and we are comprehensively analyzing detailed specifications," the JCS said in a message to reporters. North Korea said it successfully launched a spac

North Korea launched a spy satellite on Tuesday night, around three months after its unsuccessful second attempt to place a domestically developed surveillance satellite into orbit in August. It is not yet clear if the launch was successful. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that "what North Korea claimed to be a military reconnaissance satellite" was launched at around 10:43 p.m. southward from the Tongchang-ri area of North Pyongan Province. The launch vehicle then p

The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier arrived at a naval base in the southeastern city of Busan on Tuesday, South Korea's Navy said, hours after North Korea notified Japan of a plan to launch a space rocket in the coming days. The nuclear-powered vessel of Carrier Strike Group 1 entered the naval base in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, in a show of US military might amid heightened tensions over North Korea's plan to launch the rocket between Wednesday and Dec. 1. It would mar

South Korea and the United States have entered into an arrangement designed to prioritize the supply of defense-related materials and goods to each other, Seoul's arms procurement agency said Friday, in a move to bolster their security supply chain resiliency. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration and the US Department of Defense signed the Security of Supply Arrangement, allowing the two sides to request from one another priority delivery for orders of defense-related goods. The a

North Korea's IRBM development targets US bases in non-contiguous territories, say experts

The United States is set to deploy a B-52 bomber to South Korea on Wednesday for joint air drills with its Asian ally, sources said, in the latest show of force against North Korea. South Korean fighter jets will escort the nuclear-capable bomber when it flies over South Korea later in the day, sources with knowledge of the issue said. The B-52 bomber is returning to the country after less than a month, following its first-ever landing in South Korea on Oct. 17. It will mark the allies' six

The US Department of State has approved a possible sale to South Korea of Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) shipborne missile interceptors and related equipment to help improve the Asian ally's security capabilities, a government agency said Tuesday. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency under the Department of Defense made the announcement on the potential government-to-government Foreign Military Sale estimated to cost $650 million. The South Korean government has made a request to buy up to 38 SM-6

More than 70 years have passed since the United Nations Command was forged to assist South Korea in repelling North Korea's invasion in 1950. The collective security establishment within the UN serves as the backbone of the security of the Korean Peninsula. But the time has come to discuss ways to renew its mission, which continues today amid rapidly changing security dynamics, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry, which hosted the inaugural defense ministerial meeting of UNC memb

N. Korea, its aides will face consequences if conducting another invasion, says S. Korean defense chief

South Korea and the United Nations Command member states were set to hold their first meeting of defense chiefs and representatives Tuesday to evaluate the multinational command's contributions and explore their future roles, the defense ministry said. The UNC was established in July 1950 under a UN mandate to support South Korea against North Korea's aggression and has been overseeing the armistice that halted the 1950-53 Korean War. South Korean defense minister Shin Won-sik and his US counter

South Korea's defense chief on Monday hailed the sacrifice made by UN Command UNC troops during the 1950-53 Korean War ahead of the inaugural defense ministerial meeting with the member states of the multinational command tasked with overseeing the conflict's armistice. Defense Minister Shin Won-sik made the remark at a reception for representatives of the member states in southern Seoul, as South Korea seeks to deepen ties with the command's 17 member states through the ministeri