The South Korean Navy's submarine SSK Lee Eok Gi (SS-071) wobbled a bit, setting sail from the country's newest naval port on Jeju Island.The slight odor of oil that filled the cramped, windowless diesel-electric sub made some of the strangers aboard worry about getting seasick."This is (like) a lake," Cdr. Kang Byung-oh, the captain of the 1,200-ton sub, told a small group of reporters in the torpedo room, which doubles as a briefing room, last week. "The waves are only about 1.5 meters high. W

Malfunctioning ballistic missile sparks concern over Seoul’s military capability

South Korea will put some of its "strategic" weapons on display during the Armed Forces Day event late this month in a show of firepower against North Korea, the Ministry of National Defense said Thursday.The anniversary falls on Oct. 1 to commemorate the service of the country's former and current troops. On the day in 1950, the South's forces broke through the 38th parallel border line during the war against the invading North.This year, the government's official ceremony will be held on Sept.

South Korea has successfully conducted its first live-fire exercise for an advanced long-range cruise missile capable of striking North Korea’s underground military facilities and command centers, Seoul’s Air Force said Wednesday. According to the military, the Taurus missile fired from a F-15K fighter jet traveled about 400 kilometers before hitting a target on Jikdo in the West Sea on Tuesday. It flew through obstacles at a low altitude of 500 meters and rose up to 3 kilo

President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday the Coast Guard should revamp itself to regain public trust after mishandling the deadly 2014 ferry sinking that claimed the lives of more than 300 people.Moon made the remarks during a ceremony marking the 64th anniversary of the establishment of the Coast Guard, formerly known as the Maritime Police Agency, saying the agency should take the sinking of the ferry Sewol as an "eternal lesson" and carry out deep reforms. President Moon Jae-in delivers an addres

South Korea's Air Force said Wednesday it has successfully conducted its first live-fire exercise for Taurus, a long-range air-to-surface missile introduced from Germany for precision bombing of key facilities in North Korea.In the exercise, which took place in the air over Taean, South Chungcheong Province, on Tuesday, the Air Force's F-15K fighter jet fired a Taurus missile, which flew some 400 kilometers and precisely hit an intended target in the coastal waters off Gunsan, North Jeolla Provi

An Army soldier, who was wounded in a firing accident involving a K-9 self-propelled howitzer in Gangwon Province last month, died in a hospital on Wednesday, the Army said.The death of Wie Dong-min, a 20-year-old sergeant, raised the number of victims to three in an explosion of a 155-mm K-9 which took place on Aug. 18 during a firing drill in Cheorwon near the border with North Korea. This photo, taken on Aug. 21, 2017, shows Army soldiers at a funeral for two victims in a firing accident in A

South Korea’s 2018 budget for developing its own missile defense system against North Korea’s ballistic missiles and nuclear attack has been slashed compared to this year, an opposition lawmaker claimed Tuesday. 　The government, instead, allotted more money to bankroll President Moon Jae-in’s election pledges -- a hike in enlisted soldiers’ wages and a cut in the mandatory service period, said Rep. Kim Hack-yong of Liberty Korea Party, citing next year’s budget plan of the Ministry of National D

Local experts say US may be using the idea as leverage to press China on NK sanctions

The defense ministers of South Korea and Egypt agreed Monday to deepen the partnership between their countries on North Korea and arms development, Seoul's ministry said.In talks with his South Korean counterpart Song Young-moo here, Egyptian Defense Minister Sedki Sobhi stressed that his country has already severed all military ties with North Korea, according to the ministry.He was quoted as telling Song that Egypt will actively cooperate with South Korea against North Korean acts that threate

Top Army officers from Indo-Asia-Pacific countries will gather in Seoul next week for a biennial meeting on North Korea and other security threats, South Korea's Army said Monday.The four-day Pacific Armies Chiefs Conference will open Monday under the theme "Unity of Effort: Building Civil-Military Partnerships in Land Force Response to Non-Traditional Security Threats." It will bring together army chiefs of staff and senior commanders from 29 nations, the Army said. It will be co-hosted by Sout

With public sentiment worsening over North Korea, South Korea’s main opposition party is revving up its call for the nation’s nuclear armament by bringing back the United States’ tactical nuclear weapons. 　However, Seoul’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Sunday reiterated its opposition to the measure, saying that it would undermine the government’s effort to denuclearize Pyongyang and trigger an nuclear arms race in East Asia. 　The Liberty Korea Party, which has been boycotting parliamenta

Seoul Defense Dialogue, set to wrap up its three-day run today, is in its sixth year. The scale of the annual event has doubled since 2012, when it was first launched with participants from 15 countries and two international organizations. This year, the number has increased to 37 countries and three international organizations. SDD is Korea’s only high-level multilateral security dialogue and has developed into one of the top three security dialogues in Asia along with Shangri-la Dialogue and C

Regional security policymakers on Thursday called for extended deterrence and international sanctions against North Korea, denouncing the country for destabilizing peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. During the Seoul Defense Dialogue 2017, senior diplomats, military generals and security scholars called for enhanced multilateral cooperation, while stressing the need to prepare a “contingency plan” against a North Korean miscalculation.The annual security forum came amid ris

The United States does not support the idea of South Korea rearming with nuclear weapons to match North Korea, a high-ranking US military official said Thursday.“The US does not support the reintroduction of tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula, although we certainly understand those feelings especially in light of the recent nuclear test (by the North),” said Lt. Gen. Thomas W. Bergeson, deputy commander of USFK and commander of the 7th Air Force, at a forum in Seoul. The US provide