The South Korean Navy has taken delivery of its 13th domestically built guided-missile destroyer, which will join patrol missions to defend the nation's shoreline and harbor waters, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said Monday.Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction delivered the newest PKG-class (Patrol Killer, Guided Missile) patrol ship to the Navy command, located in Jinhae, some 410 kilometers south of Seoul.The 450-ton high-speed ship can sail at a top speed of 40 knots and is

Korea Aerospace Industries, the country's sole aircraft manufacturer, said Wednesday that it aims to secure 7.7 trillion won ($7.2 billion) worth of new orders and push up sales to 2.3 trillion won in 2014 as part of its ongoing effort to become a global player in the aerospace field.In a press conference held in Seoul, KAI said this year's target order represents a 25 percent increase from the year before, while the sales goal marks a 15 percent on-year gain.It wants to push up annual sales to

NEW DELHI (Yonhap News) ― President Park Geun-hye called for an “airtight” security posture against North Korea from South Korean soldiers and other officials on Saturday, viewing the North’s recent charm offensives as a possible prelude to imminent military provocations.“In India, Park ordered the (South Korean) defense minister and other security-related ministers to make more efforts to keep an airtight security posture against (potential) provocations at a time North Korea is conducting a fl

State auditors are reviewing a request by a civic group for an inspection into the use of Seoul’s payment to support the upkeep of 28,500 American troops here, amid growing calls for more transparency in the spending of the defense funds.The Board of Audit and Inspection said that it would visit the ministries of foreign affairs and defense and the Seoul Regional Tax Office for five days, starting Jan. 20, to collect related documents and check for tax evasion involving the funds.The Solidarity

Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates cast late former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun as a “little crazy” in his recently published memoir, underscoring then-frayed ties between the allies under the liberal-minded leader.In the 618-page book, entitled “Duty,” he mentioned his meeting with Roh in Seoul in November 2007. Gates called Roh “anti-American” and quoted him as saying that the “biggest security threats in Asia were the U.S. and Japan.”But Gates, who led the Pentagon from 2006-2

 Former short track world champion Noh Jin-kyu will miss the Sochi Winter Olympics with a broken elbow, officials here said Wednesday.   The Korea Skating Union said the 21-year-old suffered the injury in a fall during his practice at the National Training Center in Seoul on Tuesday.   Noh was the overall champion at the 2011 world championships.Once considered the top gun for South Korea, Noh finished only third in the national team trials in April last year and had only qualified for the 5,000

South Korea's jobless rate rose in December from a month earlier, but job creation remained strong, raising hopes that labor market conditions might be improving, a government report showed Wednesday.   According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 3 percent last month, up from 2.7 percent in November. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate also inched up from 2.9 percent to 3 percent.    Job creation still remained strong. The number of employed people was 24.96 million i

GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of U.S. automaker General Motors Co., is recalling over 4,800 units of the Chevrolet Spark for a defective transmission mount that holds the transmission and its components in place, the transportation ministry said Wednesday.   The recall affects 4,848 units of the small passenger vehicle produced between May 10 and June 7 of last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.   The ministry said the defective mount could easily be dam

Reading a new memoir by former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, South Koreans may be quite surprised by his characterization of the country's late President Roh Moo-hyun as "a little crazy."   Gates recalls a November 2007 meeting in Seoul with the liberal-minded president, whose diplomatic and security policy is still being debated.   He calls Roh "anti-American and probably a little crazy." Roh was quoted as telling Gates that "the biggest security threats in Asia were the United States an

Slightly more than half of South Koreans think the security situation on the Korean Peninsula is serious, a poll showed Tuesday, amid growing instability in North Korea and historical and territorial disputes with its Asian neighbors.According to the phone survey by Gallup Korea conducted on 1,000 adults from Nov. 20-26, 40.4 percent said the current security environment on the peninsula is “serious,” with 11.1 percent considering it to be “grave.”About 33 percent of respondents said security on

The United States and China had discussions on the possibility of a regime collapse in North Korea and other contingencies well before the death of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, according to a U.S. congressional report.   But it remains unconfirmed whether the two global powers are continuing such sensitive consultations.   "When asked on Oct. 4, 2009, whether the United States and China discussed contingencies in North Korea, (then) Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell acknowled