An Air Force training plane crash-landed during flight training in Cheongwon, North Chungcheong Province, killing two pilots, officials said Tuesday.The T-103 plane crashed about 2 kilometers away from a runway at a military training facility at around 1:30 p.m. Second Lieut. Lee Min-woo and flight trainer Nam Gwan-woo died in the crash, officials said.The Air Force immediately set up a team ― hea

Defense chiefs of South Korea and Sweden will hold talks in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss ways to enhance bilateral military exchanges and cooperation in the defense industry, officials at the Ministry of National Defense said Monday.Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and his Swedish counterpart Sten Tolgfors will also exchange views on issues concerning regional security and peace, officials said. Durin

USFK commander says timing of Seoul’s defense reform efforts is ‘right’U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Walter Sharp said Monday that tactical nuclear weapons do not need to be redeployed here, underscoring the U.S. security commitment to South Korea.With the North continuing to launch military provocations, some here have raised the need to station U.S. nuclear weapons here, all of which were wit

Two non-commissioned officers died on Friday due to an apparent cardiac arrest while undergoing separate physical tests, Army officials said.A 40-year-old warrant officer, identified only by his surname Kang, suddenly collapsed during a 3-kilometer run, part of an annual fitness test at a military base in Cheorwon, about 80kilometers northeast of Seoul, they said.Kang was immediately sent to a nea

North Korea said Friday that it would dispose of South Korean assets seized or frozen at its Mount Geumgang resort under a newly established law, a move that could further aggravate already chilled inter-Korean ties.The North also said that Hyundai Asan Corp., the central operator of the inter-Korean tour program, should come to the mountain on the east coast by the end of this month to discuss di

The South Korean military has deployed to frontline areas near the Demilitarized Zone tactical surface-to-surface missiles that put the North Korean capital of Pyongyang within their striking range, military sources said Friday.The forward-deployment early this year of the U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile Systems came as concerns were rising that the North could provoke again with its long-range ar

Trace amounts of dioxin were found in streams near a U.S. military base where drums of Agent Orange were purportedly buried about three decades ago, a South Korea-U.S. probe team announced Thursday.However, it said no dioxin was detected from samples of underground water taken from 10 tube wells located within 2 kilometers of Camp Carroll in Waegwan, North Gyeongsang Province, a key logistical sup

Land Ministry hit by series of bribery scandalsThe government will begin carrying out a stringent across-the-board inspection of public officials next month in efforts to stamp out corruption and shore up deteriorating public confidence, officials said Wednesday. The move comes as the public is becoming disenchanted with the government’s mantra of a “fair society” following a recent spate of corru

Four executives of Hyundai Development Co. including its chairman Chung Mong-gyu were accused last Friday by a local housing developer on charges of tax evasion, breach of trust and embezzlement, prosecution sources said Wednesday.The chief of the housing developer in charge of the sale of the I-Park apartment units built in Ulsan by the Hyundai construction unit filed the accusation with the pros

A chief of a public corporation and former presidential secretary on Wednesday denied allegations that he pocketed tens of millions of won in kickbacks from the troubled Busan Savings Bank Group in return for business favors.The prosecution is said to have secured a statement by Yun Yeo-seong, a financial broker who has been arrested in the investigation into the banking group, that he gave money

China has made a “terrible strategic error” by failing to rein in North Korea, a former U.S. Forces Korea commander said Monday, stressing the need for it to assume a responsible role for regional peace and stability.In a meeting with reporters in Seoul, Burwell B. Bell, who served as USFK commander from February 2006-June 2008, also said that the risk of military provocations by the North remains

South Korea will launch a new military command Wednesday to better defend the five northwestern border islands, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday.North Korea’s November shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, prompted calls for stronger measures to safeguard the islands of vital strategic value, which this new command is designed to meet. The ceremony to mark its launch is to take place at 3 p.m. at t

Retired U.S. soldier: Without herbicide, troops in South vulnerable to N.K. snipersA former U.S. Forces Korea soldier claimed Tuesday that he had witnessed defoliants ― apparently containing toxic dioxin ― being hand-sprayed in the Demilitarized Zone regularly in the late 1950s.His claim comes amid continuing controversy over when the U.S. military sprayed Agent Orange over the DMZ to stop North K

Parents call for better disease control and prevention measuresA series of recent cases in which young military trainees have been infected with or even died from a serious disease have sparked public concerns here over the “sloppy” military medical system.Some argue that the military appears to have attempted to conceal the cases to avoid criticism, particularly from parents who have sent their s

Civic group urges investigation of all U.S. basesProvincial governments are moving to verify whether areas near U.S. military facilities are contaminated amid heightened public worries over the alleged burial of Agent Orange at Camp Carroll in Waegwan, North Gyeongsang Province.Some environmentalists and activists criticized the U.S. military for being overly “slow and careful” in conducting its i

South Korea is considering deploying large attack helicopters on one of its western sea border islands in preparation against surprise infiltrations of North Korea’s air-cushioned vessels, a defense source said Sunday.“A helicopter hangar under construction on Baengnyeong Island is capable of accommodating large-sized attack helicopters. Some Apache-class attack helicopters to be imported next yea

Rep. Gong Sung-jin of the ruling Grand National Party lost his parliamentary seat Thursday as the Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision to convict him of receiving illicit political funds.The top court confirmed the appellate court’s ruling that sentenced the 58-year-old politician to eight months in jail ― suspended for two years ― and fined him 158.38 million won ($146,133).  Gong Sung

Korean investigators on Thursday pinned down three possible causes for last year’s failed launch of Korea’s first space rocket, saying that there might have been problems with both the upper and lower parts of the two-stage rocket.The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology also said that the Seoul and Moscow governments would form a new 30-person civilian probe team within the month to iden

The state archives agency will hold the country’s first ceremony on Thursday marking International Archives Day in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, officials said.The ceremony will take place at the Nara Repository, a high-tech records management facility of the National Archives of Korea, and is expected to draw about 200 people including NAK president Lee Gyeong-og.Separately from the ceremony, the

Scholars and experts suggested a variety of ideas to stamp out corruption in public and private sectors in a recent forum in Seoul, stressing that deep-seated illicit practices have eroded national competitiveness.Hosted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, the forum dealt particularly with measures to enhance the integrity of high-ranking public office holders and stop private-sect