South Korea plans to tentatively sign a bilateral pact with Japan on sharing military intelligence on North Korea as early as next week despite strong objection from opposition parties, according to the defense ministry Friday.The two sides last week reopened negotiations in Tokyo after a botched attempt four years ago. They initiated the pact in 2012, but Seoul suspended its signing as opposition parties and civic groups claimed the deal was arranged too hastily and in secret."South Korea and J

A group of hawkish lawmakers gathered Friday to discuss South Korea's development of its own nuclear weapon amid the rising geopolitical uncertainties on the Korean Peninsula following the victory of Republican Donald Trump in the US presidential election.A number of lawmakers at the ruling Saenuri Party have been insisting South Korea must consider having its own nukes, following the continuous provocations made by Pyongyang which staged nuclear and missile tests throughout this year."President

Britain on Tuesday sent its fighter jets to South Korea for the first time since the Korean War to join the first-ever trilateral combined air exercise with the US amid growing threats from North Korea. Four Eurofighter Typhoons arrived at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, Tuesday morning along with a Voyager tanker aircraft, a C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft and around 200 British airmen as part of the weeklong "Invincible Shield" drill that ends Thursday, the A

South Korea launched its eighth 1,800-ton submarine on Tuesday in an effort to reinforce its maritime combat capability in the face of North Korea’s growing threat including its submarine-launched missiles. The Lee Beom-seok submarine, named after a renowned independence fighter, was unveiled in the shipyard of its manufacturer Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) in Geojedo, 333 kilometers (207 miles) south of Seoul. It is scheduled to be deployed in late 2018 after a test and re

South Korea's Army on Tuesday conducted an air infiltration drill with the support of US helicopters in a move to better counter growing nuclear and missile threats posed by North Korea. The latest maneuver is part of the broader Hoguk combined drill, which the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force have carried out every year since 1996. The two-weeklong Hoguk combined exercise will run through Nov. 11.Some 250 South Korean soldiers from the 30th Mechanized Infantry Division boarded helicopters

South Korea's military said Monday it will stay on high alert as North Korea may fire an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) around the US presidential election scheduled for Tuesday.Military officials said Pyongyang may want to send a strong message to the new US president that it will not give up its nuclear and missile development programs despite international condemnations and sanctions. "We are closely watching every move by the North Korean military at its Punggye-ri nuclear test

An annual ceremony will be held at the United Nations park in the southern port city of Busan this week to commemorate the fallen heroes of the Korean conflict, the war veterans ministry said Monday. Nearly 2 million soldiers from 21 countries were dispatched to fight alongside South Korean soldiers in the 1950-53 war under the UN flag against the invading North Korean forces. More than 150,000 of them were killed, wounded, went missing or became prisoners of the war. To remember the fallen hero

United States Army will withdraw its light Kiowa Warrior choppers from the Korean Peninsula and replace them with heavy-hitting Apaches, official sources said Sunday.South Korean military and United States Forces Korea (USFK) sources said the OH-53D armed reconnaissance helicopters will be pulled out gradually. The 30 choppers of an aviation squadron were deployed in the country in 2013 as part of a rotational force. The single-engine, single-rotor Kiowa is based on the Bell Model 206 copter and

The South Korean Army said Thursday it is conducting a combined arms drill by mobilizing state-of-the-art K-2 Black Panther tanks in a bid to beef up its combat readiness against North Korea's threats.An infantry division is carrying out the exercise, which kicked off Monday and will run until Friday at the Seungjin training ground, located in Pocheon, north of Seoul, with about 70 tracked vehicles, including 20 K-2 tanks, and aircraft, it said.It marked the first time that the military conducte

Korea Aerospace Industries Co., the country's sole aircraft manufacturer, said Wednesday it had signed an initial agreement with an Indonesian company to sell its products in the global market. In the 2016 Indo Defence Expo and Forum set to run from Wednesday through Saturday in Jakarta, KAI and PT Dirgantara Indonesia agreed to carry out joint marketing to export aircraft in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa, KAI said in a statement."The two companies will expand their cooperation in p

US intelligence officials reacted negatively to calls in South Korea for the country's own nuclear armament, but said it is ultimately up to the country whether to pursue the option or not, according to South Korean lawmakers Tuesday.Reps. Won Yoo-chul of the ruling Saenuri Party and Lee In-young of the Minjoo Party made the remark, saying they met with officials of the US Central Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence."They said it's basically an issue that