South Korea and the United States have conducted a combined counterfire exercise aimed at deterring North Korea's artillery threats in the greater Seoul area, the South's Army said Thursday. Some 250 South Korean and US troops took part in the three-day command post exercise, aimed at training them on operating surveillance and ground artillery assets in an integrated manner, the Army's Ground Operations Command said. The exercise, which kicked off Tuesday, simulated North Korean provocations th

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Pentagon chief, referred to North Korea as a “nuclear power” in a written statement for Tuesday’s confirmation hearing – shattering a longstanding taboo by granting such a designation to Kim Jong-un’s regime and drawing considerable attention in Seoul. Seoul's Defense, Foreign and Unification ministries immediately dismissed Hegseth’s statement when asked for comment, each emphasizing in their respective statements that North Korea can never

The state arms procurement agency has kicked off a project to renovate the Navy's 4,400-ton warships with homegrown technology for enhanced efficiency in operating the fleet, officials said Wednesday. A meeting to discuss details of the upgrade for the Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin-class destroyers took place at the office of defense firm Hanhwa Systems in Gumi, 233 kilometers southeast of Seoul, earlier in the day, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. Under the plan, DAPA plans

North Korea launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Tuesday, in its latest show of force a week before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that the missiles flew approximately 250 kilometers after being launched at around 9:30 a.m. from Kanggye, Jagang Province, near the regime's border with China. They landed in the East Sea, it added. “The South Korea-US intelligence authorities had been closely monitor

South Korea's arms procurement agency announced Tuesday that it has launched the development of the L-SAM-II, an enhanced long-range surface-to-air missile designed to improve range and altitude capabilities. The L-SAM-II is designed to intercept the enemy's nuclear and missile threats at higher altitudes than the existing L-SAM system. Its increased altitude capability is expected to expand defense coverage to three to four times the current model. The advanced interceptor is expected to enable

North Korea launched an unidentified missile into the East Sea on Tuesday morning, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. This marks the North's second missile launch this year, following the first on Jan. 6. The launch appears to be an attempt by North Korea to escalate provocations ahead of next week's inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump on Monday.

Military prosecutors have decided to file an appeal against a court martial ruling that acquitted a former top Marine investigator, who led a probe into a young conscript's death, of insubordination charges, officials said Monday. The decision came just four days after Col. Park Jung-hun was acquitted of insubordination and defamation by a court martial in central Seoul. "The defense ministry's prosecutors' office respects the court martial's ruling. But based on a review of the sentencing, we h

South Korea's Ministry of National Defense dismissed allegations it took military actions intended to provoke North Korea ahead of President Yoon Suk Yeol's Dec. 3 martial law declaration. "Our military has consistently deterred North Korea’s provocations through steadfast policies and robust military readiness," the ministry said in a statement released to the press in Seoul on Monday. "However, persistent suspicions linking the military to the martial law incident and accusing it of provoking

The defense ministry on Monday rejected allegations that its suspension of an inter-Korean military pact and resumption of anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts were aimed at inducing North Korea's provocations ahead of December's martial law imposition. The ministry's response came amid suspicions raised by the opposition bloc and some media reports that the military "intentionally" took part in such activities to prompt North Korea to stage provocations in connection with President Yoon Suk Ye

Two North Korean soldiers deployed in the Ukraine-Russia war claimed they believed they were participating in a military exercise, not a war, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service reported on Sunday. According to the NIS, the North Korean soldiers were captured by Ukrainian military forces in the Kursk region of western Russia on Thursday and are currently in the custody of the Ukrainian government. The NIS stated that one of the detainees testified they arrived in Russia in November last

Col. Park Jeong-hoon, the former head of the Marine Corps investigation team, was acquitted Thursday on charges of mutiny against his superiors and defamation of a defense minister during his investigation into the death of a Marine corporal. The Central District Military Court delivered the verdict Thursday morning, concluding a trial that lasted over a year since proceedings began in December 2023. The case garnered widespread attention when Park revealed he had been instructed to exclude a ke

US senators who have advocated for the redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula and the Indo-Pacific region have assumed leadership of key committees overseeing the US State and Defense departments. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), chair of the Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, have both called for a bold overhaul of the US nuclear posture to bolster deterrence and safeguard South Korea and Indo-Pacific all

The top military officers of South Korea and Canada held video talks Wednesday and discussed ways to expand military cooperation, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. JCS Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo and his Canadian counterpart, Gen. Jennie Carignan, assessed the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and concurred on the importance of expanding cooperation for peace and stability on the peninsula and in the Indo-Pacific region, the JCS said. During the talks, Kim stressed that the securi

North Korea on Tuesday hailed its test-firing of a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile the previous day, claiming it was successful and contained a system that could "deal a serious military strike to a rival.” Confirming Monday's test-firing, Pyongyang’s state media the Korean Central News Agency said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the test himself, with his daughter believed to be named Ju-ae, accompanying him. The new missile was launched from the outskirts of Py

Launch comes ahead of Trump's inauguration, during Blinken's visit to Seoul North Korea fired a suspected hypersonic ballistic missile into the East Sea around noon, marking its first missile provocation this year, South Korea's military said Monday. According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile flew about 1,100 kilometers after being launched from the Pyongyang area Monday at noon, before plunging into the sea off the east coast. The missile flew for