Two non-commissioned officers died on Friday due to an apparent cardiac arrest while undergoing separate physical tests, Army officials said.A 40-year-old warrant officer, identified only by his surname Kang, suddenly collapsed during a 3-kilometer run, part of an annual fitness test at a military base in Cheorwon, about 80kilometers northeast of Seoul, they said.Kang was immediately sent to a nea

The South Korean military has deployed to frontline areas near the Demilitarized Zone tactical surface-to-surface missiles that put the North Korean capital of Pyongyang within their striking range, military sources said Friday.The forward-deployment early this year of the U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile Systems came as concerns were rising that the North could provoke again with its long-range ar

South Korea will launch a new military command Wednesday to better defend the five northwestern border islands, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday.North Korea’s November shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, prompted calls for stronger measures to safeguard the islands of vital strategic value, which this new command is designed to meet. The ceremony to mark its launch is to take place at 3 p.m. at t

The military is striving to tighten discipline in cyberspace as an increasing number of tech-savvy enlisted soldiers are caught breaking rules on Internet use.While South Korea prides itself on being one of the world’s most wired countries, widespread video recording devices and access to the Internet have created a headache for the military.The military has been running 82 “cyber patrol teams” in

South Korea’s defense minister has warned that his country would respond very strongly to any future attacks by North Korea.Kim Kwan Jin said at a regional security conference in Singapore on Saturday that his government must react with stiffer responses than in the past because North Korean provocations are becoming increasingly bold.Kim said North Korea has been insincere in previous talks and m

South Korean and U.S. troops sprayed toxic defoliant Agent Orange and other herbicides over 6,840 hectares of the Demilitarized Zone between 1968 and 1969, in an effort to thwart North Korean infiltrations, a report said Friday.The estimated size of the areas on which Agent Orange was sprayed was about 14 percent of the southern side of the DMZ, the 4-kilometer-wide, 249-kilometer-long buffer zone

North Korean hackers have apparently sent spam e-mail messages to South Korean military officers, carrying viruses and malicious computer code, military officials here said Monday.According to an official, senders who claim to be graduates of the Korea Military Academy in Seoul have written to about 60 current South Koran officers who graduated from the academy. Messages mostly included a benign g

Military prosecutors sought warrants on Friday to arrest two Marine Corps major generals on charges of making false accusations about their top commander, defense ministry officials said. The two major generals, identified only by their initials P and H, have been under an investigation since early this month for allegedly spreading false rumors about the Marine commander, Lt. Gen. Yoo Nak-joon. A

South Korean military intelligence officials are investigating seven officers and soldiers for posting pro-Pyongyang messages on an online community that praises North Korea, military officials said Monday.About 70 military personnel were registered as members of the online community, called the “Cyber Command for Defense of Fellow Countrymen,” and seven of them posted pro-North Korea messages the

North Korea is in the completion stage of building a sprawling naval base near the tense sea border with South Korea, a high-level government source said Sunday, a facility capable of housing about 60 air-cushioned vessels that can be used for infiltration attacks.South Korea spotted air-cushioned vessels and hangar-shaped buildings at the naval base that has been under construction in Goampo in t

Military prosecutors have booked a Marine Corps captain without detention for sexually harassing his soldiers, military officials said Tuesday.The captain at the 6th Marine Brigade, identified only by his surname Kim, is accused of sexually harassing five soldiers between late last year and early this year, according to officials at the Marine Corps.The Marine Corps launched its own probe into the

A full-scale military air drill took flight over southwest Korea to improve the efficiency of joint operations by South Korean and U.S. air forces, according to military officials in Seoul on Monday.Some 59 aircrafts from both countries are to take part in the five-day Max Thunder drill, including Korea’s F-15K and KF-16 jets and HH-60P choppers, and U.S. F-16 jets as well as an airborne early war