The South Korean Navy carried out a firing exercise off the country’s east coast Friday to strengthen its capability against a possible invasion by North Korean submarines, officers here said.Flatly rejecting Japan’s call a day earlier to cancel the drill, the Navy held the one-day exercise in the East Sea, some 50 kilometers away from the port of Jukbyeon, North Gyeongsang Province, as scheduled.On Wednesday, Tokyo urged Seoul to cancel the exercise, claiming that the venue includes part of its

Lt. Gen. Jouas stresses readiness to fight

7th Air Force commander hints that F-35s will replace A-10s, F-16s

The world has seen a steady decrease in the number of nuclear warheads over the last five years due in large part to the U.S. and Russia reducing their inventories of nuclear arms under their bilateral arms reduction and limitation treaty, according to a Swedish security think tank. In its Yearbook 2014, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute also said that there was an emerging consensus among experts that North Korea has produced a small number of nuclear weapons. It put the numb

American veteran says Korean War was Soviet-influenced; recalls brotherhood with Koreans

The Defense Ministry is pushing to allow conscripts to acquire academic credit through their military activities, triggering opposition from those who do not seek a university education or are exempt from mandatory military service.The ministry said it sought to implement the plan by late 2017 after finishing coordination with related government agencies and revising a related law. It plans to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Education Ministry to push for the plan this month.“We beli

The U.S. is considering deploying an advanced missile defense system to the Korean Peninsula to better counter North Korea’s missile threats. But the possible deployment is raising concerns that it could cause friction with China, which perceives the MD system as targeting it.U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti has confirmed that Washington was considering sending the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, one of the core assets of the multilayered U.S. MD program, to the pe

U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti confirmed Tuesday that Washington was considering deploying an advanced missile defense system to South Korea to better deal with “evolving” missile threats from North Korea.During a forum in Seoul, the commander said that he had recommended that the U.S. consider sending the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, one of the core assets of the multi-layered U.S. MD program, to the peninsula.“There was consideration being taken in order to

After three and a half years at the helm of the Defense Ministry, the hawkish Kim Kwan-jin was expected to leave the government to pave the way for a more flexible, conciliatory policy toward North Korea.Yet, he has reemerged as the centerpiece of the Park Geun-hye administration’s security policy as Park seeks to maintain a robust deterrence posture amid Pyongyang’s saber-rattling and menacing rhetoric against Seoul.Park appointed him to head the presidential office of national security on Sund