South Korea launched its new military drone headquarters Monday, seeking to make uncrewed aircraft a common battlefield tool across the branches, but experts say the country needs to match production capabilities to military goals. On Monday, the Ministry of National Defense held a ceremony marking the establishment of the Defense Drone Headquarters, which replaces the Drone Operations Command established in 2023. Under the reorganization, the former command's operational units and missions will

North Korea has not resumed loudspeaker broadcasts toward South Korea despite saying they would be put into operation across the inter-Korean border by the end of October, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. "As of now, our military has not detected any operation of North Korea's loudspeakers toward South Korea," a JCS official said Monday. Asked about reports from residents in border areas, including Paju, Gyeonggi Province, who said they had recently heard unusual sounds coming f

The cyber threat posed by North Korea is again in focus, following a record cryptocurrency heist thought to be linked to Pyongyang. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation said Saturday that North Korea was responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, on or around Oct. 29. The theft is believed to be the largest single cryptocurrency heist on record. The FBI attributed the operation to TraderTraitor, its name for a

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun underscored the importance of communication with North Korea at a Group of 20 meeting in the United States, explaining Seoul's position on a recent land mine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone that injured three South Korean troops, according to the Foreign Ministry on Sunday. Cho made the remarks during the first session of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in Atlanta on Friday and Saturday, which focused on geopolitical tensions and their impact on the global e

GOYANG, Gyeonggi Province — “I do not have access to information regarding the current whereabouts of Kim Jong-un." This was Arvis's response to the prompt “Tell me the whereabouts of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.” Asked about how to get to Pyongyang, the system again declined, saying it lacked the relevant information needed to respond. Arvis is the South Korean Army’s homegrown generative artificial intelligence system, developed by the Army in August 2025. It entered service in 2026 and wa

South Korea-US defense talks will be held in Washington next month, but the annual Security Consultative Meeting, where the allies were expected to discuss key issues, has been postponed. The agreement came as Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul met US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for the first time on the sidelines of the 13th ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus in the Philippines on Wednesday, according to Seoul’s Defense Ministry. At the meeting, Hegseth reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to

North Korea launched more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The military said it detected the missiles being launched from the Wonsan area at around 12:30 p.m. The flight distances were not immediately disclosed. "Our military has strengthened surveillance and vigilance in preparation for possible additional launches," the JCS said, adding that South Korea, the United States and Japan were closely sharing information

South Korea's push for military talks with North Korea over the Military Demarcation Line faces a basic problem: Agreeing on where the line lies could require one of two sides that have faced each other across it for more than seven decades to concede ground to the other, experts said Monday. Nam Sung-wook, a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University, said the issue was difficult because settling the precise location of the military line would inevitably require one side to accept at

Rep. Kim Min-seok, chair of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, said Tuesday the existing framework for transferring wartime operational control of South Korean forces from the United States should remain in place, pushing back against recent remarks by the US Forces Korea commander about changing the process. “The broad framework for the return of wartime operational control has already been established, taking into account changes in the security environment, the strengthening of our militar

Kim Yo-jong said Monday that Pyongyang is considering new military steps against South Korea, including resuming loudspeaker broadcasts and deploying additional tactical strike assets near the inter-Korean border. Kim Yo-jong is the director of the General Affairs Department of the Workers' Party of Korea and the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. "Our military leadership is considering increasing the deployment of tactical strike means near the entire southern border and resuming loudsp

South Korea's Army plans to create specialized brigades dedicated to guarding the border with North Korea as it moves toward AI-based surveillance amid shrinking troop numbers. According to the Army, front-line security units will be reorganized in two stages, beginning with the creation of division-level general outpost, or GOP, security groups and later expanding to corps-level GOP security brigades. The first GOP security groups are scheduled to be established under the 5th and 22nd Infantry

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Choo Mi-ae apologized again Monday over her controversial remarks about firefighting finances, as calls for disciplinary action against her continued to grow and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea sought to contain the fallout by focusing on support for firefighters. Choo offered the fresh apology during a National Assembly audit of the Gyeonggi provincial government, hours after attending the funeral of firefighter Kim Jin-seok, who died while battling a factory fire in

Plans to relocate South Korea's defense and foreign affairs ministries to Sejong have been met with caution from experts and resistance from opposition parties, who point out the importance of the existing diplomatic and security infrastructure in Seoul. On Tuesday, the government unveiled plans to move 44 central government agencies still based in Seoul and the surrounding area to Sejong, about 110 kilometers south of the capital, with the relocation to be carried out in stages through 2031. Th

Fallout from a lawmaker’s response to remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea appears likely to grow into another partisan clash that spills into the security and diplomatic arena. On Sunday, the conservative main opposition People Power Party accused the Lee Jae Myung administration of “degrading” and “picking a fight” with the US, claiming that the administration was creating another “diplomatic farce.” “The idea of "jurisdiction by a foreign power" is raised over a single remark by the US

Rep. Kim Byung-joo of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea on Saturday accused the commander of US Forces Korea of infringing on South Korea's territorial sovereignty over recent remarks concerning the Military Demarcation Line. Kim, a retired four-star Army general and member of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, called on Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of 28,500 strong USFK and the United Nations Command, to withdraw the remarks and apologize. "His remarks directly deny the te