South Korea's defense ministry said Friday it has signed an agreement with Ethiopia to construct a community center in Addis Ababa for its nationals who fought in the 1950-53 Korean War.It's one of Seoul's friendship projects for the people of Ethiopia, the only African country that dispatched ground troops to help South Korea fight against invading North Korea during the conflict. Hwang Woo-ung (2nd from right), South Korea's deputy defense minister for welfare, poses for a photo with Abate Sit

South Korea and the United States completed the regulatory process needed for Seoul’s provision of a base site for a US missile defense battery, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.A bilateral committee on the status of US Forces Korea approved the plan for land transfer, allowing the US military to begin work for the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in the some 300,000-square-meter land in the southeastern county of Seongju. The land was formerly owned by a Lotte Group

The US Air Force dispatched a nuclear sniffer aircraft Thursday to the east of the Korean Peninsula amid the possibility of North Korea's imminent nuclear test, a government source said."The WC-135 Constant Phoenix, a special-purpose US plane, made an emergency sortie today over the East Sea," the source said, requesting anonymity.The US Air Force's WC-135 Constant Phoenix sniffer plane (Yonhap)Its mission is to collect samples from the atmosphere in order to detect and identity a nuclear explos

More than 100 South Korean and US warplanes have joined an annual combined defense exercise under way on the peninsula, South Korea's Air Force said Thursday.The Max Thunder training, which started on April 14 for a two-week run, also involves around 1,200 troops, including some American personnel stationed in Japan.South Korea has dispatched F-15K, KF-16, FA-50, F-4E and F-5 fighter jets, as well as C-130 cargo and E-737 airborne early warning and control aircraft. A F-16 fighter jet of the US

South Korea will hold an anti-piracy drill in waters off the southern coast ahead of the dispatch of a 4,500-ton destroyer to Somalia, the maritime ministry said Thursday. South Korea Navy's Daejoyoung destroyer. (Yonhap)Taking place on Friday, the one-day drill will involve the South Korean destroyer Daejoyoung, a 17,000-ton commercial vessel and 350 seamen and sailors, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.Next month, the warship will join the South Korean naval unit which has been

South Korea's defense ministry said Thursday that North Korea is clearly the country's enemy, although it has formally jettisoned the politically sensitive expression "main enemy."A longstanding controversy over labeling the communist neighbor has been rekindled by the television debate Wednesday night of five politicians running for the May 9 presidential elections.South Korean Defense Ministry's spokesman Moon Sang-gyun (Yonhap)Asked if the North is the South's main enemy, Moon Jae-in of the l

South Korea's Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Thursday ordered the military to strengthen its readiness posture for an "immediate" response to any North Korean provocation.His remarks came amid growing concerns that the communist regime could conduct its sixth nuclear test or an intercontinental ballistic missile launch to mark the 85th anniversary of its army's creation next Tuesday. Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn (right) speaks during a meeting with Cabi

South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo on Wednesday stressed the importance of real combat training for his troops as he visited the Army's major battle training field."It's the military's natural duty to focus on actual combat-like training in order to become stronger under the grim security conditions," Han said during the tour of the Korea Combat Training Center in Gangwon Province.Defense Minister Han Min-koo tests the multiple integrated laser engagement system at the Korea Combat Traini

A US Navy strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson has finally started moving toward the Korean Peninsula after finishing joint exercises off Australia, a South Korean military source said Wednesday.The US Pacific Command said in early April the Carl Vinson fleet, which was scheduled to participate in the exercises with Australia redirected to waters off Korea amid growing tensions over North Korea's new provocations. The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier (Yonhap)But The New York

WASHINGTON -- A US Navy strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson was thousands of miles away from the Korean Peninsula over the weekend despite widespread belief it would be in the region to deter North Korea, news reports said Tuesday.That's because the ships aren't heading directly to the peninsula as originally reported. Instead, the group, which also includes guided missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer and USS Michael Murphy and guided missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain, are

South Korea's Vice Defense Minister Hwang In-moo met Tuesday with Japan's top envoy here, mainly to discuss the North Korea issue, his ministry said.In the 30-minute talks with Amb. Yasumasa Nagamine, the two exchanged views on the communist nation's nuclear and missile threats.They agreed on the importance of bilateral and tripartite partnerships also involving the US for an effective response, according to the ministry.They also noted that Seoul and Japan have been sharing military intelligenc

South Korea has completed the development of new tactical ship-to-ground guided missiles which would enhance its ability to strike North Korea's key military equipment and facilities, the country's arms procurement agency said Tuesday.South Korea will start mass-producing the missiles with two types of launch systems -- inclined and vertical -- next year after a seven-year project led by the Agency for Defense Development, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.A ship-to-gro

A civic group said Monday it will file a petition with the national human rights watchdog over allegations the Army chief ordered the military to hunt down homosexual soldiers.The Center for Military Human Rights Korea said it will file the case with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea against Army Chief of Staff Gen. Jang Jun-gyu and four investigators for allegedly violating the victims' constitutional rights.Lim Tae-hoon, chief of the Center for Military Human Rights, Korea speaks d

South Korea's defense ministry said Monday it plans to create a cybersecurity technology team and a multilateral security department in an organizational change.It would instead abolish a culture policy department tasked with improving life in the barracks amid continued reports of bullying cases in the nation's 625,000-strong military.In an advance notice of a related bill on the scheme, the first in a decade to redraw the organizational chart of its headquarters, the ministry said its existing

South Korea's defense ministry affirmed Monday that there is no change in its plan to deploy an advanced US missile defense system here as early as possible.It was responding to speculation that South Korea and the US may adjust the pace of bringing a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery to the peninsula for political reasons, with South Koreans set to pick their new president on May 9.(Yonhap)A White House foreign policy advisor traveling with Vice President Mike Pence was quoted as tell