South Korean naval ships carrying water, food and medicine left the southern port city of Busan for the Philippines to support relief operations ongoing at the typhoon-stricken island nation, authorities said Saturday. The two-ship flotilla made up of amphibious landing ships -- the Sung In Bong and Bi Ro Bong -- left South Korea's largest port, carrying 260 crew members and various supplies, in...

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey, who oversees field operations of American troops, voiced strong concerns Thursday about increased uncertainties surrounding North Korea and the possibility of additional provocations. Hagel stressed that North Korea's execution of Jang Song-thaek, a putative number two official, demonstrates the unpredictability of the communist regi...

South Korea on Thursday agreed to return the remains of 425 Chinese troops killed during the 1950-53 Korean War to their homeland, a decision that could help ease diplomatic tension caused by their overlapping air defense zones. In June, President Park Geun-hye offered to send the remains back to China during her talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong in Beijing. “The two countries agreed ...

The defense ministry will announce this week the interim result of an investigation into the cyber warfare command over its alleged online smear campaign in last year's presidential election, military officials said Wednesday. The announcement, scheduled for Thursday, coincides with the one-year mark of last December's election in which the then ruling party candidate, Park Geun-hye, won a tight...

Rep. Cho claims signs of preparations for nuclear, missile tests

Seoul is seeking to revive the standing secretariat of the National Security Council as security concerns increase due to shifts in the North Korean leadership and the region’s simmering territorial rows and historical animosities. Following President Park Geun-hye’s directive on Monday, government officials are discussing how to organize the secretariat, which the former Lee Myung-bak administr...

South Korea and the United States resumed their negotiations on sharing the cost of keeping American troops here on Tuesday, but a still-unbridgeable gap over the size of Seoul's contributions is expected to cause the talks to drag on further. The allies kicked off last week the current round of negotiations, the ninth of their kind since July, to renew the current five-year Special Measure Agre...

Seoul is considering complementing its measures for handling contingencies in North Korea as security concerns are increasing following the execution of Jang Song-thaek, the once-powerful uncle of the dynastic ruler Kim Jong-un. In particular, the government is reportedly seeking to improve Conceptual Plan 5029 ― a set of joint military steps by South Korea and the U.S. to cope with potential in...

South Korea selected two U.S. companies -- Boeing and Kaman Aerospace Corporation -- to jointly produce air-to-ground bombs guided by the global positioning system (GPS) for its fighter jets, the state arms procurement agency said Monday. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) opened the bid in July to equip F-15Ks and KF-16s with the smart bombs capable of launching precision att...

South Korea’s newly established air defense zone went into effect on Sunday, with its airborne early warning and control aircraft conducting a patrol and surveillance mission over it. A week ago, Seoul announced the new Korean air defense identification zone to counter China’s unilateral decision to expand its own to cover a reef and other islands off the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula. ...

The latest attempt by South Korea and the United States to narrow their gap on sharing the cost of keeping U.S. troops here ended without a clear breakthrough but both sides agreed to meet again next week, Seoul government sources said Saturday. The talks, the ninth in their series since last year, opened in Seoul earlier in the day after a two-day break that followed two days of negotiations. T...

South Korea on Tuesday endorsed a plan to acquire three additional Aegis destroyers for deployment in the mid-2020s, amid intensifying regional competition to boost maritime defense. The procurement project, expected to cost around 4 trillion won ($3.8 billion), was approved during a Joint Chiefs of Staff Council meeting presided over by JCS chairman Adm. Choi Yoon-hee. Once the project is comp...