Those who have served jail time for using deception to avoid military service will still have to join the armed services under a tougher conscription rule to take effect next year, the military recruitment agency said Friday.Also starting from next year, the military will no longer randomly select r

S. Korea says no need to respond to ‘hackneyed’ claimsSouth Korea’s military on Thursday flatly rejected North Korea’s claim that the South mistook construction work blasting for coastal artillery near their tense maritime border the day before.North Korea accused the South of making up a story to w

The South Korean Navy returned fire after North Korea shot artillery near the tense western sea border, military officials said Wednesday. The Navy heard three shots, one of which fell near the Northern Limit Line, and immediately fired back, they said. No casualties or damage have been reported so

North Korea is apparently trying to assassinate South Korea's defense chief known for his hard-line stance against Pyongyang, government sources here said Wednesday.A source said Seoul has "received intelligence" that North Korea is after Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin."The defense minister is a key

South Korea and the U.S. will form a joint taskforce to practice detecting and eliminating North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction during the upcoming annual joint military exercise later this month, a government official said Sunday.“The allies will form the joint taskforce and conduct virtual an

After a former South Korean air force chief was indicted on charges of leaking military secrets to Lockheed Martin, the U.S. defense firm Thursday denied any illicit activity on its side.South Korea's state prosecutors announced earlier this week that the ex-airman, identified only by his family nam

South Korea and Indonesia will begin their joint technological research to develop new fighter jets on Tuesday in accordance with their agreement signed in April, officials at the state acquisition agency said Monday.They will open the combined research and development center on a 2,700-square-meter

Three Japanese lawmakers arrived at a South Korean airport on Monday, defying Seoul's repeated warnings that their entry will be banned due to their attempt to reassert Tokyo's claim to the South Korean islets of Dokdo.Yoshitaka Shindo, Domomi Inada and Masahisa Sato, all from Japan's conservative L

U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey made a two-day trip to South Korea earlier this week, the militaries of South Korea and the U.S. said Saturday.Dempsey, the nominee to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in South Korea on Thursday and held talks with the outh Korea's JCS chairman and toured the inter-Korean border vllage of Panmunjom on Friday before returning home

South Korea will send 39 troops to Mongolia later this week for an annual international peacekeeping exercise, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday.At the invitation of the Mongolian military, the troops will participate in the 13-day “Khaan Quest” drill that will begin in an area some 56 kilometers west of the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator on Sunday. The exercise was created in 2003 to enhance

President Lee Myung-bak has warned that the safety of four Japanese lawmakers could be at risk if they press ahead with a trip here seen as aimed at bolstering Tokyo's claims to the South's easternmost island of Dokdo, an official said Wednesday.Four lawmakers of Japan's opposition Liberal Democratic Party said last week they will visit Ulleung Island near Dokdo in early August in an apparent atte