South Korea has finalized a deal with the U.S. government to have BAE Systems upgrade its aging fleet of more than 130 F-16 fighters to improve their electronic warfare capabilities, the state arms procurement agency said Tuesday. Under the foreign military sales program, South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration and the U.S. Department of Defense signed a letter of agreement to upgrade 134 aircraft of the KF-16 variants C and D Block 52.Defense contractor BAE Systems will upgrade

South Korea is facing a dilemma after its peacekeepers in South Sudan received ammunition from Japan, which Tokyo may use to bolster its assertive defense policy. Responding to a U.N. request, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces engineering troops in South Sudan supplied 10,000 rounds of ammunition to the South Korean troops on Monday through the U.N. mission in the African country. It was the first time Japan has provided ammunition to another country and the latest move to ease self-imposed constraint

SEJONG (Yonhap News) ― The city of Sejong in central South Korea is a step closer to becoming the country’s administrative hub as the second phase of government office relocation from Seoul will be completed next week, officials said Monday. Sejong, some 150 kilometers south of Seoul, was officially designated in 2012 to become a so-called special autonomous city that will house a total of 16 central government ministries and offices as well as 20 subsidiary organizations that were located in or

South Korean naval ships carrying water, food and medicine left the southern port city of Busan for the Philippines to support relief operations ongoing at the typhoon-stricken island nation, authorities said Saturday.   The two-ship flotilla made up of amphibious landing ships -- the Sung In Bong and Bi Ro Bong -- left South Korea's largest port, carrying 260 crew members and various supplies, including 30 vehicles ranging from excavators, dump trucks and cranes.   The ships are also taking 30

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey, who oversees field operations of American troops, voiced strong concerns Thursday about increased uncertainties surrounding North Korea and the possibility of additional provocations.Hagel stressed that North Korea's execution of Jang Song-thaek, a putative number two official, demonstrates the unpredictability of the communist regime. It is "very concerning to everyone and reality of that uncertainty heightens the tensions," Hagel s

South Korea on Thursday agreed to return the remains of 425 Chinese troops killed during the 1950-53 Korean War to their homeland, a decision that could help ease diplomatic tension caused by their overlapping air defense zones.In June, President Park Geun-hye offered to send the remains back to China during her talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong in Beijing.“The two countries agreed on the return of the remains following a series of working-level consultations. We decided to hand over t

The defense ministry will announce this week the interim result of an investigation into the cyber warfare command over its alleged online smear campaign in last year's presidential election, military officials said Wednesday.The announcement, scheduled for Thursday, coincides with the one-year mark of last December's election in which the then ruling party candidate, Park Geun-hye, won a tight race against the opposition Democratic Party candidate, Moon Jae-in. Park was sworn into office in Feb

Rep. Cho claims signs of preparations for nuclear, missile tests

Seoul is seeking to revive the standing secretariat of the National Security Council as security concerns increase due to shifts in the North Korean leadership and the region’s simmering territorial rows and historical animosities.Following President Park Geun-hye’s directive on Monday, government officials are discussing how to organize the secretariat, which the former Lee Myung-bak administration abolished amid an administrative overhaul six years ago.The recent execution of Jang Song-thaek,

South Korea and the United States resumed their negotiations on sharing the cost of keeping American troops here on Tuesday, but a still-unbridgeable gap over the size of Seoul's contributions is expected to cause the talks to drag on further.The allies kicked off last week the current round of negotiations, the ninth of their kind since July, to renew the current five-year Special Measure Agreement (SMA) but have made little progress.Both sides are pressed for time as the current five-year cont

Seoul is considering complementing its measures for handling contingencies in North Korea as security concerns are increasing following the execution of Jang Song-thaek, the once-powerful uncle of the dynastic ruler Kim Jong-un.In particular, the government is reportedly seeking to improve Conceptual Plan 5029 ― a set of joint military steps by South Korea and the U.S. to cope with potential instability in the North, including a sudden regime collapse.“The military is in the process of complemen

South Korea selected two U.S. companies -- Boeing and Kaman Aerospace Corporation -- to jointly produce air-to-ground bombs guided by the global positioning system (GPS) for its fighter jets, the state arms procurement agency said Monday.The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) opened the bid in July to equip F-15Ks and KF-16s with the smart bombs capable of launching precision attacks against North Korea's artillery bases or hidden targets using the GPS system.The precision-guided

South Korea’s newly established air defense zone went into effect on Sunday, with its airborne early warning and control aircraft conducting a patrol and surveillance mission over it.A week ago, Seoul announced the new Korean air defense identification zone to counter China’s unilateral decision to expand its own to cover a reef and other islands off the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula.The new zone is designed to have its southern boundary match the country’s broader flight information re

The latest attempt by South Korea and the United States to narrow their gap on sharing the cost of keeping U.S. troops here ended without a clear breakthrough but both sides agreed to meet again next week, Seoul government sources said Saturday.The talks, the ninth in their series since last year, opened in Seoul earlier in the day after a two-day break that followed two days of negotiations. Their goal is to rewrite the so-called special measure agreement (SMA) that sets the amount of financial