GYERYONG, South Chungcheong Province -- On North Korea claiming without evidence that South Korean uncrewed aerial vehicles flew over Pyongyang, the South Korean army chief of staff said North Korean attempts to gamble with the stability of the Korean Peninsula “will not be tolerated.” Gen. Park An-su said North Korea was “using the drone claims” to order artillery corps to be prepared to open fire along the border and blow up inter-Korean roads. “The North Korean r

After former US President Donald Trump called South Korea a "money machine," Korean news outlets on Wednesday grappled with how to best capture the nuance of his words for the Korean audience through translation. Trump made the remarks during an interview with Bloomberg News at the Economic Club of Chicago while discussing the costs of maintaining US troops in South Korea. "If I were there (in the White House) now, they (South Korea)’d be paying us $10 billion a year. And

Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun apologized Tuesday over the fate of members of a past secret unit that trained commandos to infiltrate into North Korea for the first time since they were killed more than a half century ago. Kim's apology was read on his behalf during a ceremony to mark the beginning of an excavation project to find the yet-recovered remains of four Silmido unit members who were executed and secretly buried in 1972. "May those who were sacrificed during the Silmido inc

North Korea blew up roads near the border on each side of the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday, in another demonstration of cutting ties with the South. Exploding the inter-Korean roads north of the border on the east and west coats, which had already been dismantled by North Korea, is thought to be a “largely symbolic move,” an official from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters in a closed-door briefing. Tuesday’s move is a “dramatic visualization” o

The head of the South Korean government agency for defense research and development said Tuesday the uncrewed aerial vehicles seen in footage released by North Korean state media do not seem to be South Korean. “These UAVs do not seem distinctly South Korean, although there are similar-looking ones among commercial kinds as well as those developed (by the military),” Lt. Gen. Lee Kun-wan, president of the Agency for Defense Development, said in response to questions from lawmakers. &

The South Korean military is closely watching developments and making necessary preparations in response to the North Korean military ordering its troops near the border to be prepared to open fire. Col. Lee Sung-jun, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson, told reporters Monday that the South Korean military is “prepared for any actual provocation.” ”The responsibility for current circumstances lies entirely with North Korea, and we strongly warn them to stop wit

The South Korean military said Sunday it has “nothing to confirm” regarding North Korea claiming to have ordered its artillery corps near the shared border to fully prepare to shoot. “The military has nothing to confirm,” a South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff official told The Korea Herald. North Korea’s defense ministry said in a statement releases through the state Korean Central News Agency that it has put “fully armed” artillery corps along the border

North Korea's recent claim that the South had sent uncrewed aerial vehicles over Pyongyang three times since last week has stirred a contentious debate on the veracity of the claim and the implications. As of Sunday, the South Korean government has maintained a noncommittal stance, neither confirming nor denying the allegations, while North Korea has yet to present definitive evidence. In a message delivered Friday through the Korean Central News Agency, the North's Foreign Ministry cl

No South Korean military unmanned aerial vehicle has entered North Korean skies, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday in response to North Korean Foreign Ministry claims of such infiltration into Pyongyang. “The South Korean military has not sent any UAVs or flyers. We don’t know yet if a civilian drone flew in,” an official from the South’s JCS told The Korea Herald. In a statement, the North’s Foreign Ministry claimed that South Korean UAVs had flown

The Air Force has conducted live-fire drills involving the long-range air-to-surface Taurus missile, officials said Friday, in the first such exercise in seven years amid North Korea's persistent nuclear and missile threats. In the tests conducted on Tuesday and Thursday, F-15K fighter jets fired the Taurus missile, which flew 400 kilometers and successfully hit pre-designated targets in the Yellow Sea, according to the Air Force officials. In 2017, South Korea conducted a live-fire test in

North Korea has already blocked the inter-Korean passages under leader Kim Jong-un’s instructions, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff chief Adm. Kim Myung-soo said Thursday. The South’s JCS chairman was responding to National Assembly questions about the announcement by the North Korean army on Wednesday that the reclusive regime planned to cut off all roads and railways leading to South Korea and build fortifications in the border areas. “North Korea began closing off

South Korea’s national defense minister on Tuesday said North Korean troops appear to have been killed or wounded in Russia’s war on Ukraine. Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun told lawmakers on this day that reports of North Korean troop casualties in the Ukraine war are believed to be true based on the ministry’s findings. He was speaking about a report in the Ukrainian news agency Kyiv Post that six North Korean officers were among those killed by a missile strike in

South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration is falling behind legal standards for gender equality in all of its policy committees, according to agency data seen by The Korea Herald. According to the data submitted to Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Boo Seung-chan’s office, two of the agency’s three committees -- the committees for defense acquisition program promotion and airworthiness certificate review -- had no women in 2023. In the same year, the committee for d

Two US B-1B heavy bombers conducted a joint drill with the South Korean Air Force on Oct. 1 Armed Forces Day, before one of them participated in a national ceremony, the US Indo-Pacific Command said Saturday. In a show of force, a US B-1B bomber flew over Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, just south of the capital, alongside two F-15K jets during the ceremony marking Armed Forces Day, demonstrating the US security commitment to South Korea. According to the US Indo-Pacific Command, two US B-1B bombers

A South Korean military aircraft evacuating Korean nationals and their families from Lebanon returned home Saturday, as Israel intensifies ground operations against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah inside Lebanon, the South Korean government said Saturday. A total of 96 South Korean nationals and one foreign family member who had been residing in Lebanon arrived at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, at 12:50 p.m. local time aboard a South Korean Air Force KC-330 Cygnus transp

Seoul and Washington have finalized a new defense cost-sharing agreement for 2026 to 2030. The deal comes just one month ahead of the US presidential election, in which former President Donald Trump -- who previously demanded a significant increase in South Korea's defense contributions -- is running as the Republican candidate. Over five months of intensive negotiations, the allies engaged in eight rounds of talks, culminating in a final agreement for the 12th Special Measures Agreement during

North Korea once again sent another wave of balloons carrying trash toward the South on Wednesday, the day after a massive military parade was held in Seoul to commemorate the Armed Forces Day. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said at around 5:19 a.m. that North Korea was flying objects believed to be trash balloons, which may move toward Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province given the wind direction. The JCS advised residents of the affected areas to be wary of falling objects an

A grand military parade took place in central Seoul on Tuesday in celebration of South Korea's Armed Forces Day. The parade showcased diverse forces, including around 5,000 military personnel and 340 pieces of equipment, marching along a 1.5-kilometer stretch from Sungnyemun to Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul for an hour from 4 p.m. For the parade, military personnel and vehicles carrying weapons and soldiers traveled from Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, to the parade ven

South Korea will show off a new ballistic missile and other key weapons systems on the 76th founding anniversary of its armed forces this week, officials said Sunday, in an apparent warning against North Korea's provocations. The Hyunmoo-5, known to be able to carry a warhead weighing 8-9 tons, will be displayed during both the ceremony at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, just south of the capital, and a military parade in downtown Seoul on Tuesday, according to the officials. "We showcased

This year Turkmenistan celebrates the 33rd anniversary of its Independence and marks the 32nd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Republic of Korea. Thirty-three years ago, the Constitutional Act on the independence and state structure of Turkmenistan was adopted, according to which Turkmenistan was proclaimed as an independent democratic state. From the date of its independence, under the wise leadership of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, Turkmenistan has confiden