South Korea plans to build barracks on Baengnyeongdo by 2013 for U.S. troops and others to be augmented in case of a North Korean provocation on the northwestern border island, a military source said Sunday.Budget bills on the construction of barracks for some 160 troops have been submitted to the National Assembly, according to the source.The plan was conceived as Seoul is striving to bolster its capabilities to safeguard the five frontline islands with the deployment of more high-tech weapons

Since North Korea shelled Yeonpyeongdo a year ago, South Korea has adopted a more aggressive military strategy and beefed up its capabilities to defend the northwestern border islands with more personnel and high-tech military equipment.The Nov. 23 attack was another stark reminder that Seoul and Pyongyang remain technically at war, prompting exhaustive soul-searching from South Korea over how to better cope with military threats from the belligerent state. The unprecedented incident that killed

   BUSAN -- South Korean Navy vessels joined ships from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) near Busan on Saturday to practice conducting combined search and rescue operations.    The exercise aims to help sailors hone their skills and strengthen cooperative ties in hop

The top U.S. military intelligence official has been in Seoul for annual consultations with his South Korean counterpart and other officials on North Korea, a Defense Ministry official said Thursday.Lt. Gen. Ronald L. Burgess, Jr., director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, visited the Defense Intelligence Command where he received a briefing on the situation in North Korea on Wednesday, the ministry official said.He also met with the commander of the Defense Security Command and the top Defen

South Korea is going through an "identify crisis" again over its security dependence on the United States, especially following North Korea's two deadly attacks in 2010, an alliance politics expert said Wednesday."I think it's fair to say there is an identify crisis in South Korea," William Tow, pro

The U.S. Forces Korea on Tuesday denied that there is gang presence in its personnel stationed here.Its denial came after an October report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed that members from 53 gangs have been enlisted in U.S. installations around the world, including those in South Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Germany and Japan. “We have checked with the Korean national police, (the U.S. military) Central Investigation Department and the FBI,” a USFK media relations officer told rep

South Korea and Japan will hold a biennial joint naval exercise this weekend to promote military exchanges and friendship, the Navy here said Monday.The Navy and Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force will hold their seventh annual Search and Rescue Exercise, or SAREX, this Saturday and Sunday. The exercise will be held off the east coast of Busan, some 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The first SAREX was held in 1999.“The exercise is designed to develop the joint response between the Navy and th

The U.S. air force is cutting hundreds of civilian jobs in South Korea and other parts of the Pacific region, a report showed Sunday.The Stars and Stripes, a U.S. military newspaper, said the air force was cutting 858 civilian jobs in the Pacific as part of its major restructuring.On Wednesday, the air force had announced that it was eliminating 9,000 civilian jobs and another 4,500 in the future in cost-cutting efforts. The paper noted that the U.S. military has been scrambling to rein in spend

Former Navy officer denies all allegationsGerman prosecutors are investigating a Korean weapons broker for alleged corruption in a large-scale submarine acquisition deal with a German engine manufacturer, local and German media reported this week.They are looking into the possibility that broker Jeong Eui-seung used some of the commission he received from MTU, a subsidiary of the engine manufacturer Tognum, to bankroll some corrupt lobbying activities, the reports said.The 72-year-old former nav

The U.S. Defense Department plans to offer some $5.7 million to North Korea for a project to search for and excavate the remains of the U.S. war dead in the communist country, Washington-based Radio Free Asia reported on Thursday.Citing an email message from Pentagon’s publicity officer Carie Parker, it said that the money will be used to establish base camps for the work in North Pyongan Province and South Hamgyeong Province and also cover overhead expenses.Parker also said that the amount of m

One pilot was killed and another wounded after an Army 500MD combat helicopter made an emergency landing for an unverified reason in a mountain in Gangwon Province on Wednesday.The accident occurred at around 2:40 p.m. in Wonju of the province when the helicopter of the Army’s aerial operations command participated in the annual Hoguk Exercise. The 45-year-old warrant officer, the main pilot, lost consciousness as the helicopter struck the mountain during the landing process. He was immediately

The state military recruitment agency is offering counseling on conscription procedures for overseas Korean men during the annual World Korean Business Convention in Busan this week, officials said Wednesday. The Military Manpower Administration is running a booth in BEXCO in the southeastern port city until Friday to introduce a system under which those with foreign permanent residency can apply to join the armed services here.Presently around 110,000 overseas Korean men qualify for military se

The military has saved costs and improved its productivity in equipment maintenance by hiring civilian workers, the defense ministry said Tuesday.The ministry said that as part of the military’s plan to increase efficiency in defense management, the Army hired 37 civilian technicians to handle maintenance of 27 armored vehicles this year.The ministry said the military could save up to 11.7 billion won ($10.5 million) in defense budget this year, and 46.8 billion won until 2014.The ministry said