Any decision by South Korea to supply arms to Ukraine would make Seoul a participant in the conflict, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, after President Yoon Suk Yeol opened the door to such deliveries. South Korea has denounced Russia's invasion of Ukraine and supplied economic and humanitarian aid to Kyiv, but unlike the United States and European allies has so far stopped short of sending weapons. In a Reuters interview on Tuesday ahead of a visit to Washington next week, Yoon said Seoul wou

S. Korea, US, Japan conduct ballistic missile defense exercise against NK threats

OSAN AIR BASE, Gyeonggi Province -- “Refueling mission complete,” South Korean Air Force pilot Maj. Eum Ki-su announced aboard the KC-330 Cygnus tanker aircraft at 4,500 meters over the West Sea on Wednesday. Fueling up fighter jets in the sky, a tricky maneuver that requires extending a pipeline into a fuel cap the size of a golf hole, is essential to reinforce the Air Force’s combat and war-fighting capabilities. Air-to-air refueling and tanking enable Air Force fighter jets

South Korea and the United States will kick off a large-scale regular joint air exercise later this week, the South's Air Force said Sunday, in the latest drill meant to step up deterrence against North Korea's evolving military threats. The 12-day Korea Flying Training will begin Monday at the Gwangju Air Base in Gwangju, 267 kilometers south of Seoul, mobilizing some 110 aircraft and more than 1,400 troops, according to the armed service. South Korea plans to deploy some 60 warplanes

South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed to hold missile defense and anti-submarine exercises regularly to counter growing North Korean threats during their senior-level defense talks in Washington earlier this week, Seoul's defense ministry said Saturday. They reached the agreement at a session of the Defense Trilateral Talks on Friday, amid tensions caused by Pyongyang's recent weapons tests, including that of what it claims to be a solid-fuel Hwasong-18 intercontinental balli

The remains of the Korean independence fighter who inspired the hit South Korean TV series “Mr. Sunshine,” have returned home and been laid to rest at a national cemetery in South Korea after a century-long wait. Hwang Ki-hwan had been buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in New York after dying alone in 1923. A century after his death, his remains arrived at Incheon Airport early on Monday morning after a 15-hour flight. Honor guards carried Hwang’s casket, which was covered with a

South Korea's military kicked off an annual joint exercise with local governments, police and firefighting authorities Monday as part of efforts to maintain an integrated defense posture against North Korea's military threats. The Hwarang drills got underway in the southern city of Daegu, 237 kilometers southeast of Seoul, and the surrounding North Gyeongsang Province for a five-day run, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The exercise is also set to take place in five other major

South Korea was set Monday to hold a ceremony launching a new 3,600-ton frigate with reinforced anti-submarine and anti-air capabilities, the Navy and the state arms procurement agency said. The ceremony for ROKS Chungnam, named after a central province, will take place at the shipyard of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to the armed service and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. Some 150 people plan to attend the event, including De

More than 60 percent of South Koreans voiced the need for Seoul to independently build its own nuclear weapons, a survey showed Thursday, in the latest indication that the people are more open to atomic weapons amid growing military threats from North Korea. According to the poll of 1,000 adults commissioned by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, 64.3 percent replied that South Korea needs to develop its own nuclear weapons to counter Pyongyang's escalating nuclear threats. When asked the sam

South Korea plans to extend 100 billion won ($75.84 million) in trade financing to subcontractors in the defense industry per year in the latest efforts to boost the country's global arms sales and prop up the domestic industry ecosystem, the industry ministry said Thursday. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and local banks signed a memorandum of understanding that calls for the financial support for smaller businesses in the field, a

The remains of a Korean independence fighter who inspired a hit 2018 TV series will return home from the United States next week a century after his death, the veterans ministry said Tuesday. The remains of Hwang Ki-hwan, currently laid to rest at Mount Olivet Cemetery in New York, will be sent to South Korea on Sunday before the centennial anniversary of his death on April 17, according to the ministry. It plans to inter the remains at the Daejeon National Cemetery in Daejeon, 139 kilometers so

The three countries stage search and rescue exercises for the first time since 2016 to ‘normalize trilateral security cooperation,’ says Seoul

South Korea's military has identified the remains of another soldier killed during the 1950-53 Korean War, a dozen years after their discovery at a former battle site, the defense ministry said Thursday. The ministry's excavation team recovered the remains of Ssg. Heo Chang-sik in Inje, 119 kilometers east of Seoul, in 2011, and confirmed his identity based on a DNA analysis using a sample from his younger brother. Staff sergeant was the equivalent of the current corporal. Having joine

S. Korea, US, Japan to stage trilateral maritime exercises involving US aircraft carrier next week

An imposing US aircraft carrier is set to arrive in the southeastern port city of Busan on Tuesday, officials here said, in yet another show of America's military might against growing North Korean threats. The nuclear-powered USS Nimitz carrier is slated to dock at ROK Fleet Command in the city, 325 kilometers south of Seoul, after its strike group trained with the South Korean Navy in the international waters south of the southern island of Jeju the previous day. Its presence here is expe