US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday he had issued “no orders to withdraw forces in the Korean Peninsula,” but left the door open, saying the Pentagon seeks to optimize US forces through troop adjustments at every command worldwide. “I continue to want to pursue more rotational force deployments into theaters, because it gives us greater strategic flexibility in terms of responding to challenges around the globe,” Esper said at a virtual event hosted by the Inter

South Korea successfully launched its first military communication satellite into space Monday, US time, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said Tuesday.　 On the Falcon 9 rocket developed by US space firm Space X, the Anasis-II satellite lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:30 p.m., local time. After separating from the rocket, it tested for ground communication at 7:19 p.m., the arms procurement agency said. The latest launch has made Korea the 10th country in

Defense chiefs of South Korea and the US held a teleconference Monday to discuss a number of pending issues and reaffirmed that both sides will “unwaveringly” work together for the handover of wartime operational control from the US back to South Korea. But no conclusion has been reached yet on whether or not to hold August’s annual joint drills as planned, the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul said Monday. “Nothing has been decided. The two sides are still in clos

South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense reaffirmed Monday that there has been no discussion between Seoul and Washington about cutting back the 28,500-strong US military presence here. “We’ve touched on that issue several times before. Nothing has been discussed on that matter,” deputy spokesperson Moon Hong-sik told a regular briefing. Moon added that a potential troop pullout will not be one of the talking points when the defense chiefs of South Korea and the US h

United States Forces Korea on Tuesday advised its personnel stationed in South Korea to strictly observe the antivirus guidelines the country has been urging local residents to follow in an effort to contain the coronavirus pandemic. The US military in a Twitter post highlighted wearing a mask, keeping a safe distance from one another and not eating or drinking on beaches, after soldiers caused controversy with a Fourth of July party that included fireworks on Haeundae Beach in Busan. About 20

Nearly half of the North Korean population, or 12.2 million people, suffered undernutrition from 2016-2019, the United Nations estimated in its latest report on food security worldwide. At the time, North Korea was second only to Haiti, which posted the highest rate of undernourished residents globally at 48.2 percent of the population, slightly ahead the North’s 47.6 percent, according to the report compiled by UN food and relief agencies including the World Food Program. The report fo

South Korea and the United States could scale back their annual joint military exercises in August over coronavirus concerns or suspend them altogether, sources said Saturday. March drills were cancelled because of the pandemic. “While both sides share the understanding the August drills should be conducted, things are flexible given the persisting coronavirus pandemic,” a Defense Ministry official said. The drills would require bringing in members of the US reserve force

North Korea appears to be weighing the timing to test a submarine-launched ballistic missile as part of the aggression it threatened to stage last month, a Defense Ministry think tank said Wednesday. “With an SLBM launch, Pyongyang could deliver strongest shockwaves it intends to the international community, while shunning the risk of being seen as defying the UN Security Council resolutions,” the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said in a report. The resolutions denouncing t

The military hotline between South and North Korea has remained cut since early June when the North severed all official communication channels between the two countries in protest over launches of anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets by defector groups in Seoul. According to the Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday, the North has not been answering a routine daily call from the South, despite its latest suspension of further military action against Seoul. “As far as we know, communic

With a top US envoy for North Korea due in Seoul this week, South Korea is making a renewed push to restart the “peninsula peace process,” but prospects are dim with an apparently unwilling North Korea, experts said Monday. Pyongyang said Saturday it would no longer deal with Washington, which it said saw engagement as a tool to power through its political crisis, in a statement by Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui. The message poured cold water on expectations in the South that

President Moon Jae-in on Friday replaced his top foreign policy and national security officials, naming Suh Hoon director of the National Security Office, top security adviser to the president. Suh, incumbent spy chief, is a longtime veteran on North Korea policy who helped to orchestrate the three inter-Korean summits in 2018. Park Jie-won, a former special envoy to North Korea who met both Kim Jong-un and his late father Kim Jong-il, was named to head the spy agency. The four-term lawmake

South Korea and the United States are considering calling off their joint military exercises in August, held twice annually in March and August, due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, a local report said Friday citing Seoul officials. The two sides were reportedly mulling three options: canceling the drills, scaling them back or forging ahead. The officials said the government at the moment was taking preparations on the assumption that the Combined Forces Command between Seoul and Was

US President Donald Trump could push to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for the third time in October to bolster his November reelection, said former national security adviser John Bolton. “If the president felt he was in deep, deep trouble, another meeting with his friend Kim Jong-un might look like something that could turn things upside down again,” Bolton told a video press conference hosted by New York foreign journalists Thursday. But he was doubtful whether the North wo

The leaders of the US and North Korea are unlikely to push for their third summit before November, experts said Thursday, as domestic priorities override foreign policy concerns in the lead-up to the US presidential election in November. President Moon Jae-in floated the idea of a potential Donald Trump-Kim Jong-un meet at a videoconference with EU leaders Tuesday, saying they should try dialogue one more time to revive the stalled denuclearization process. The nuclear talks are stalled over

The United States remains dedicated to a successful handover of the wartime operational control to South Korea, said Gen. Robert Abrams, who holds dual roles of commander of the US military here and the Combined Forces Command between Seoul and Washington. “The United States is firmly committed to the successful execution of this alliance plan that will ultimately result in a Republic of Korea four-star leading the Combined Forces Command,” the four-star general said at a defense fo