South Korea's defense ministry reaffirmed its commitment Monday to work with its American counterpart to take back wartime operational control in 2015 as scheduled, despite growing calls to delay the process to counter North Korea aggression.Asked about the need to postpone the deadline in the wake of growing threats posed by Pyongyang, Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin told lawmakers that preparations are "well underway" as agreed by the governments of the two nations."Currently, the defense minist

Top South Korean and U.S. military officers reiterated Thursday that the allies would respond firmly to any North Korean provocations in accordance with their recently signed contingency plan.During their 37th Military Committee Meeting, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Jung Seung-jo and his U.S. counterpart Gen. Martin Dempsey also reaffirmed that preparations for the transfer of wartime operational control slated for 2015 were “on track.”They agreed to refine the specifics on the fu

The Japanese ambassador to Seoul said Wednesday that Tokyo is prepared to sign a military intelligence pact with South Korea "at any time," urging Seoul to boost military partnership in the face of North Korea's bellicosethreats.  South Korea and Japan postponed the signing of the military intelligence-sharing agreement last July -- which would have been the first military pact between the two nations -- due to discontent among Koreans. Memories of Japan's brutal colonial rule on the Korean Peni

The Defense Ministry said Tuesday it will submit a 217.4 billion won ($194.3 million) supplementary budget to the parliament for approval to increase spending on weapons on the frontlines and shelters on border islands to better counter North Korean threats amid high tensions.The Cabinet approved an extra budget worth 17.3 trillion won for this year in a bid to revitalize the economy faced with gloomy market conditions at home and abroad. The budget is the largest since 2009 when the nation unve

A U.S. military helicopter crashed while landing at a front-line Army unit Tuesday, but all of three crew members and 13 U.S. soldiers on board escaped unscathed, police and military officials said.Sikorsky's CH-53 transport helicopter crashed onto a military shooting range in Cherwon, 88 kilometers north of Seoul, while landing after completing a three-hour training exercise along with five other helicopters, according to military officials. After all the American soldiers had escaped to safety

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., the sole operator of South Korea's nuclear power plants, said Sunday that it has separated its internal computer network from the Internet in an effort to guard against possible cyber attacks.   The state-run company said it has also completely divided its nuclear plant control systems from its internal computer networks and restricted both systems' access to the Internet.USB ports of the nuclear power plant control systems have also been sealed, it added.    The

A wind-fed mountain fire that broke out in North Korea and spread into the South Korean sector of the inter-Korean border Saturday was largely broughtunder control, military authorities said.   The blaze, first spotted in the northern side of the 4-kilometer-wide Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) at around 4:40 a.m., quickly spread past the eastern sector of the 248-kilometer border and reached within 100 meters of the nearest South Korean guard posts inside the buffer zone, they said.  Two forest servic

South Korea will resume a once-aborted program to develop mid-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (MUAV) to bolster its monitoring capabilities of North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, a military source said Tuesday.The state-funded Agency for Defense Development launched the indigenous drone development project in 2006 and made a prototype in May 2010. But the project was put on ice in early 2011 as it overlapped with Seoul’s plan to buy high-altitude UAVs. As calls grew for reviving the 16

Seoul,Washington put off annual top military meeting amid tension

   SEOUL -- South Korea's defense spending rose for the third consecutive year last year, data showed Sunday, amid escalating tensions with North Korea over its persistent nuclear and missile threats.   South Korea spent 2.6 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense last year, the highest level in three years, according to figures by the Ministry of National Defense.   South Korea's defense expenditure totaled 32.9576 trillion won (US$29 billion), accounting for 2.59 percent of the

The U.S. Defense Department has delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test that had been planned for next week at an Air Force base in California amid mounting tensions with North Korea, a senior defense official told The Associated Press.   The official said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to put off the long-planned Minuteman 3 test until sometime next month because of concerns the launch could be misinterpreted and exacerbate the Korean crisis. Hagel made the decision Friday, th

The U.S. Defense Department has notified Congress of the possible sale of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth warplane or Boeing’s F-15 Silent Eagle to South Korea, which is to pick the winner of its fighter acquisition contest later this year.On Wednesday, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which handles Washington’s foreign military sales, announced the compulsory congressional notification, which took place last Friday.“The proposed sale will provide it (South Korea) with a credible defense