Tensions between the US and North Korea showed signs of winding down, with Pyongyang backing off from its threat to fire missiles toward Guam as Washington ratcheted up pressure on China to rein in its wayward ally. After being briefed by the military about plans for missile launches, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he would watch the conduct of the US “a little more” before deciding whether to order the firings, Pyongyang’s state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday. “The United

A top US military commander on Monday said that though military action remains an option for the president, Washington’s top priority is on diplomatic and economic means as a peaceful solution to the standoff with North Korea. Marine Corps. Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the country is capable of defending the peninsula, Guam and the continental US, despite Pyongyang’s series of threats to launch an “enveloping fire” around the western Pacific island. Wh

　Local residents and opponents of the deployment of a US missile shield system Sunday rejected the results of a government-led environmental survey as lacking credibility, posing a challenge to the government’s effort to promptly finish the deployment process amid North Korea’s missile threat. 　On Saturday, the government concluded that electromagnetic radiation and noise emanating from the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system’s advanced X-band radar and power engines prove to be well belo

  　President Moon Jae-in will meet with the US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, on Monday to discuss ways to address North Korea’s escalating military threat, South Korea’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Sunday. 　During the talks, Moon and Dunford are expected to seek measures to counter provocations from the North, which threatened last week to fire intermediate-range ballistic missiles toward the waters near the US island Guam.　The top US general arrived in S

With North Korea threatening to fire off intermediate-range ballistic missiles into the waters near the US island Guam, debate emerged Thursday over whether the communist regime would push ahead with its plan despite stern warnings from the US and its allies. According to the North’s state-run news agency, Gen. Kim Rak-gyom, commander of the Strategic Forces of the Korean People’s Army, said it is examining an “enveloping strike” of Guam with four Hwasong-12 missiles that he said would fly 3,356

  With US President Donald Trump employing harsh warnings similar to the North’s rhetoric and the North responding with a more direct threat of attack on the US’ territory, concern is growing in South Korea that the war of words between the two rather temperamental leaders could evolve into a real military conflict.  　After Trump’s warning that the North’s military threats could be met with “fire and fury that the world has never seen,” Pyongyang said Wednesday that it could conduct missile stri

 Chief of the Air Force Gen. Jeong Kyeong-doo was tapped as South Korea’s new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Tuesday, in the first reshuffle of top military leadership since President Moon Jae-in took office in May. During a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Moon approved the nomination of Jeong. If Jeong receives a parliamentary nod, the 56-year-old general will replace the current JCS chief, Army Gen. Lee Sun-jin, and become the second Air Force officer to take the highest active-duty post. H

An Army four-star general accused of abusing subordinates assigned to serve at his residence will face investigation, along with his civilian wife, the military said Friday.At a press conference, the Ministry of National Defense revealed that most of the allegations against Gen. Park Chan-ju, chief of 2nd Operational Command, and his wife were valid, including one that he made the so-called “housekeeping soldiers” wear electronic bracelets so they could be reached whenever needed. It also found

Calls are mounting for a prosecutorial probe into the nation’s spy agency, after it was revealed that it had operated a 3,500-member cyber team to manipulate public opinion during the Lee Myung-bak administration.  Former president Lee Myung-bak. (Yonhap)According to a special task force on the reform of the National Intelligence Service on Thursday, the NIS created as many as 30 units dedicated to posting online comments in favor of the then-conservative administration. The units then hired mor

Amid concern that North Korea might conduct another intercontinental ballistic missile test, tension is running high on the Korean Peninsula, with experts warning that Pyongyang may be preparing to launch an upgraded version of a submarine-launched ballistic missile. Citing a US defense official, CNN reported Thursday that the North conducted a missile ejection test Tuesday at a naval shipyard in Sinpo, South Hamkyong Province, where North Korea is thought to have repositioned submarines and bar

Tension is rising on the Korean Peninsula, as North Korea shows growing indications of another missile test despite President Moon Jae-in’s engagement approach of resuming inter-Korean talks and suspending cross-border hostilities. According to reports by Agence France-Press and CNN, US officials said that if a test is carried out, it would be the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile or intermediate-range one. Liftoff would probably occur Thursday, the 64th anniversary of the signing

The US initially proposed deploying nine launchers of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile shield, instead of the typical six for one battery, during its consultations with South Korea last year, a government source told The Korea Herald on Tuesday. The official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose details of the negotiations, said Washington floated the idea in the run-up to the two sides’ launch of a joint working group on the matter in March 2016. Wary

North Korea may return to dialogue, responding to a South Korean olive branch Monday, but even so, the talks are unlikely to produce meaningful results toward easing tensions on the peninsula, experts said Monday. 　The communist country would challenge South Korea’s dialogue initiative by bringing up issues that are almost certain to be rejected by the South, such as the suspension of South Korea-US joint military exercises and repatriation of North Korea defectors living in the South, experts a

　South Korea’s arms procurement agency on Thursday unveiled a prototype of an advanced radar for its homegrown fighter jet project, accelerating efforts to complete the development by 2026.　The state-run Agency for Defense Development ran detection capability tests on a simplified version of the “active electronically scanned array” radar at Hanwha Systems research institute in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Hanwha, a local defense firm, is the contractor for the development of the

North Korea is advancing “faster than expected” in its missile development program, warned President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday in Germany, adding that the communist state appears to be “close to” possessing an intercontinental ballistic missile after a missile test Tuesday.“The current level of the North’s nuclear and missile programs is a problem, but what is more troubling is its development is proceeding much faster than expected,” Moon said during a dinner meeting with German Chancellor Angel

South Korea and the US on Wednesday confirmed North Korea’s claim that it had launched a ballistic missile with an intercontinental range, but doubts persisted over whether the communist state had overcome technological challenges to reach the US mainland. 　In its report to lawmakers, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said that the Hwasong 14, which the North fired Tuesday morning, was most likely to be a new ICBM-range two-stage missile, a variant of the intermediate-range single-stage Hwasong-12 that t

North Korea claimed it carried out a successful test of an intercontinental ballistic test on Tuesday, heralding a sweeping shift in the regional security landscape and posing a critical test for President Moon Jae-in’s pursuit of denuclearization dialogue.  　The Hwasong 14 hit an altitude of 2,800 kilometers and flew northwest about 930 kilometers after being lifted off at 9:39 a.m., with leader Kim Jong-un himself monitoring the experiment on the scene, the official Korean Central Television s

In peacetime, South Korea is in charge of its military forces. But when a war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, the US is to take control of both South Korean military forces and the Americans stationed here.During his campaign, President Moon Jae-in had pledged to speed up the transfer of the wartime operation control, or OPCON, delayed by his predecessor. He has just got a major boost for the plan: US President Donald Trump’s consent. During their summit last week, Moon and Trump agreed to w

This is the last installment in a series of interviews with prominent US scholars on the upcoming South Korea-US summit and the alliance. -- Ed.Despite their differences over North Korea and a US anti-missile shield, a US expert said President Moon Jae-in and his US counterpart Donald Trump should not refrain from exchanging their “respective and preferred” views when they meet for a summit Friday.  Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a

Defense Minister nominee Song Young-moo fought hard to fend off multiple accusations during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, but calls only grew for him to give up on the job. Lawmakers from the opposition Liberty Korea Party and People’s Party urged Song to voluntarily drop his bid to become the Moon Jae-in administration’s first defense chief, saying his high-paying career as a military contractor and at a law firm would clash with his mission to eradicate wrongdoings on military acquisi