S. Korea’s current focus is to enhance viability of the US extended deterrence

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum has met with senior US commanders to discuss measures to beef up security and strategic cooperation on the Korean Peninsula, including the US provision of extended deterrence, the JCS said on Saturday. Kim visited US Strategic Command in Nebraska on Friday (US time) for talks with Commander Adm. Charles Richard on ways to strengthe...

South Korea's Navy is seeking to create a new command running unmanned ships, submarines and aircraft in the 2040s, the armed service said Friday, in an effort to address a potential troop shortage caused by the country's low birthrate. During a parliamentary audit, the Navy unveiled a series of policy goals, including removing one of the three fleet commands and creating the new command employi...

The top military officers of South Korea, the United States and Japan emphasized the importance of trilateral security cooperation against North Korea's threats during their Pentagon meeting, as Washington reaffirmed its commitment to the defense of the regional allies, according to a joint statement. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum participated in the Trilateral Chief of Defe...

WASHINGTON -- The top military chiefs of South Korea and the United States discussed ways to deal with North Korean provocations, the office of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Wednesday. South Korea's JCS Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Mark Milley, also reaffirmed their commitment to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula in the annual Military Committee ...

South Korea and the United States will kick off large-scale air drills involving US F-35B stealth jets later this month, Seoul officials said Tuesday, as they seek to sharpen their deterrence against potential North Korean provocations. The drills are set to take place over South Korean airspace from Oct. 31-Nov. 4, with the South Korean Air Force set to mobilize some 140 warplanes, including F-...

Over the past few years, bills have been proposed to revise the military service act to allow an exemption for well-known celebrities, but none have been passed. Last year, Rep. Sung Il-jong of the then-main opposition People Power Party said he had proposed a bill that would excuse men from military service for promoting national prestige in realms broader than the previous definition. The broa...

South Korea will hold a major air show in a southern city next week to showcase an array of its military aircraft, including the homegrown KF-21 fighter under development, Seoul officials said Thursday. The four-day Sacheon Airshow is set to begin at an air base in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, next Thursday after a yearslong hiatus caused by COVID-19. Launched in 2004, the annual air sho...

South Korea lost track of a missile fired during last week's live-fire drills held in response to a North Korean intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) launch, Seoul officials said Thursday, in a failure that raised questions over the missile's performance. The missile was one of the two Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles that the South Korean military fired into the East Sea fo...

The United States on Tuesday reiterated its goal of achieving complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and extended its deterrence commitment to South Korea, as North Korea’s nuclear saber-rattling has sparked a debate on the redeployment of US tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea. North Korea’s pronouncement that the recent flurry of ballistic missile launches aimed to simulate stri...

Senior defense officials of South Korea, the United States and Japan had a conference call Friday to discuss joint responses against North Korea's evolving missile threats, Seoul's defense ministry said. The phone talks among Deputy Defense Minister for Policy Heo Tae-keun and his US and Japanese counterparts, Ely Ratner and Kazuo Masuda, respectively, came after a spate of the North's missile p...

South Korea and the United States began another joint naval exercise, involving a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, in waters east of the Korean Peninsula on Friday in order to reinforce the allies' operational capabilities against North Korean provocations, Seoul's military said. The allies' navies kicked off the two-day maritime maneuvering drills in the international waters of the East Sea wi...

Residents baffled by missile malfunction, lack of information fans rumors

Citizens living in the eastern coastal city of Gangneung, Gangwon Province, were panicked and confused by an explosion, thundering noises and a subsequent fire at a military airfield late Tuesday, while the country’s military remained silent about the accident caused by a missile malfunction throughout the night. Residents in Gangneung said they saw a bright flash that accompanied loud noises at...

The South Korea-US Combined Forces Command (CFC) plans to complete the relocation of its headquarters in Seoul to a key US military base south of the capital by the end of this month, the defense ministry said Tuesday. Seoul and Washington agreed late last year to move the CFC headquarters to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of the capital, within this year in a relocation that ...