Japan's military will not enter South Korean territory even in the event of a conflict breaking out unless it receives a request for assistance from Seoul, a Japanese foreign ministry official said."As long as we don't get a request, we will not come to (South Korea) unilaterally ... It definitely requires approval from South Korea," the official told a group of South Korean journalists in a background briefing on Tuesday at the foreign ministry in Tokyo.South Korea is wary of Japan's push for a

South Korea has increased its defense budget for next year to better cope with growing threats from North Korea, the defense ministry said Monday.The government set the defense budget at 40.34 trillion won ($34 billion) for 2017, up 4.0 percent from 38.8 trillion won a year earlier, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement.Of the total, 28.14 trillion won will be spent on operating military forces and facilities, with 12.2 trillion won set aside to bolster combat capabilities, it sai

An armored vehicle on a training mission overturned at an Air Force unit in the southwestern city of Gunsan on Thursday, leaving the vehicle's driver unconscious and another soldier injured, the Air Force said.During the accident, which took place around 10:50 a.m., the K20 armored vehicle carrying four soldiers was traveling down a road near a magazine inside the 38th Fighter Wing base in the city on South Korea's west coast. The driver, a corporal, was taken to a nearby hospital in a coma due

South Korean and US forces kicked off their annual aerial exercise, the military here said Wednesday, the latest in a series of maneuvers aimed at enhancing combined defense capabilities against evolving threats from North Korea. The allies began the Vigilant ACE exercise as part of a broader effort to hone their skills to better counter the North's nuclear and missile capabilities. The latest drill is set to run till Monday.The US military based in South Korea did not make any comments.The two

Nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan are moving to hold talks next month in Seoul to discuss cooperation in dealing with the growing nuclear threat from North Korea, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.Kim Hong-kyun, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will meet with his US and Japanese counterparts, Joseph Yun and Kenji Kanasugi, in Seoul in mid-December, according to official sources.This would mark the

The US Defense Department said Tuesday the planned deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea will move forward regardless of the political situation in the Asian nation."Our THAAD deployment continues. The effort to do that as quickly as possible continues forward, and I'm not aware of any plans to alter that at this point," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said at a briefing in response to a question whether the impeachment or resignation of President Park Geun-hye would

South Korea's T-50 jet and its variants have successfully completed 5,000 test flights, highlighting the reliability of the plane being marketed abroad as a next-generation advanced trainer, the country's sole aircraft company said Monday. The T-50 and T-50A advanced trainers, the TA-50 lead-in fighter trainer and the FA-50 two-seat light multi-role mission fighter have reached a meaningful milestone in terms of accumulated test flights with no accidents, Korea Aerospace Industries Co. (KAI) sai

Defense chiefs of South Korea and the United Arab Emirates on Monday discussed measures to further promote bilateral military ties that have been enhanced with the dispatching of troops to the Middle East country, the government said.Defense Minister Han Min-koo had a meeting with his UAE counterpart Mohammed Al-Bawardi in Seoul to discuss the operations of the Akh Unit sent to the middle eastern country for peacekeeping and other military support duties, the defense ministry said in a statement