South Korea's veterans ministry has chosen a unified Belgium-Luxembourg battalion as next month's Korean War hero for its contribution to key defense operations during the 1950-53 conflict, officials said Friday. The battalion consisted of 700 Belgian troops and 48 Luxembourg soldiers, who were mobilized to fight under the UN banner in support of South Korea. It was credited with blocking enemy forces' southward advance in the northeastern province of Gangwon for 55 straight days.

President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered South Korean military to protect the peace on the peninsula by preparing overwhelming war capabilities, during a visit to a defense development agency on Thursday in the wake of Pyongyang's airspace invasion. “If we are to achieve peace, we must prepare for war with overwhelming superiority,” Yoon said. “We must clearly realize that a disguised peace cannot protect (our) security, and its foundation will collapse.” Reiterating his

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday ordered the military to “punish and retaliate against any North Korean provocations in no uncertain terms” without the fear of nuclear weapons, amid growing public concern about security in the aftermath of the cross-border infiltration of North Korean drones. Speaking at a meeting with aides, Yoon said that immediate retaliation is the “most powerful means to deter provocations,” according to Kim Eun-hye, senior presidential secretary

Despite military’s civil damage concerns, it seems to have no other means left for interception, experts say

South Korea conducted regular military drills earlier this week to enhance the defense of its easternmost islets of Dokdo, an informed source said Friday, following Japan's renewed claims to the East Sea outcroppings in a revised security document. Personnel of the Navy and Coast Guard staged the biannual drills on Thursday after Tokyo renewed its claims to Dokdo in the revised National Security Strategy last week despite the growing need for bilateral cooperation against evolving North Kor

South Korea will embark on a 347.7 billion-won ($271.4 million) project Thursday to locally develop a minesweeping helicopter by 2026 for enhanced naval operations, the state arms procurement agency said. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration is set to sign a contract with Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd., the country's sole aircraft maker, to begin the project aimed at bolstering the Navy's countermine capabilities and protecting maritime shipping lanes. Once developed, an uns

The prosecution investigating the preceding government's handling of the killing of a fisheries official by North Korean soldiers has secured testimony that the defense ministry itself had attempted to delete related intelligence reports even before the National Security Council ordered their removal, officials said Wednesday. The official, Lee Dae-jun, was fatally shot by the North Korean coast guard members near the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea on Sept. 22, 2020, a day aft

South Korea's military on Tuesday held ceremonies to lay to rest the remains of eight service members killed in the 1950-53 Korean War following their excavation from former battle sites, the Army said. The ceremonies took place at Seoul National Cemetery in the capital and Daejeon National Cemetery in Daejeon, 160 kilometers south of Seoul. The remains of three of the fallen troops were interred at the national cemetery in Seoul, while the rest were laid to rest at the Daejeon cemetery. Ar

South Korea has successfully completed a 180 billion-won ($138 million) project to develop an air-to-ground guided missile to be fitted on a homegrown light armed helicopter, the state arms procurement agency said Monday. The missile, named Cheongeom, passed a combat suitability assessment on Dec. 12, capping more than seven years of development efforts led by the state-run Agency for Defense Development, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. Cheongeom means heavenly sword

Navy SEALs of South Korea and the United States recently concluded a two-week bilateral exercise designed to strengthen their interoperability, officials said Sunday. The US Indo-Pacific Command said a West-Coast based SEAL team and the South Korean Naval Special Warfare Flotilla concluded their bilateral session on Dec. 9 On its website, the US command noted that the exercise included static and dynamic weapons training, close quarters combat drills, mission planning and knowledge and cultural

After a two-month long initial inter-agency investigation, the South Korean military announced during a closed-door briefing Thursday the outcome regarding the malfunction of a Hyunmoo 2-C ballistic missile. Further full-scale inspections to determine the precise cause of the accident will occur December to March next year. The military will focus on examining missile navigation, control and guidance systems during the inspections. The Hyunmoo 2-C ballistic missile crashed into a golf course loc

Experts say no radical change expected, but more intelligence can be gathered on NK missile launches via satellites

List includes Korean-born US soldier who inspired ‘Mr. Sunshine’

DAPA head confident on expanding exports of homegrown KF-21 fighter aircraft

South Korea's state arms procurement agency signed a 30 billion-won ($23 million) contract with a local firm Monday to develop an advanced counter-artillery radar system by 2026, officials said. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration inked the deal with LIG Nex1 for the project aimed at replacing aging radars used by the Army and the Marine Corps -- the TPQ-36 and 37. The project seeks to develop a radar with enhanced capabilities, such as simultaneously detecting twice the number o