South Korea - The Korea Times

S. Korea, US to kick off largest-ever joint military drill

South Korea and the United States will launch their largest-ever joint exercise this week to warn North Korea against further provocations, a South Korean military official said Sunday.The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises running from Monday through April 30 will be the largest in scale since Pyongyang's torpedo attack on the South Korean corvette Cheonan in 2010, which is what triggered these annual drills, the official said on the condition of anonymity.This year's exercise will involve more than 300,000 South Korean and 15,000 U.S. troops and simulate previously unattempted strategies.The Key Resolve portion of the exercise will include OPLAN 5015, which aims to remove the North's weapons of mass destruction and prepare the allied troops for a pre-emptive strike in the event of a North Korean attack."The OPLAN 5015 was included in the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian (UFG) exercise last year, but this is the first time for it to be carried out in a Key Resolve exercise," another South Korean military official said. The UFG is another combined military exercise conducted by South Korea a

Mar 6, 2016

S. Korea, US launch formal talks on deploying THAAD in Korea

South Korea and the United States officially launched a joint working group Friday to discuss the idea of deploying the advanced missile defense shield in the Northeast Asian country, the Defense Ministry here said.The joint group is scheduled to hold its inaugural meeting later in the day at the Ministry of National Defense. The sides are co-headed by the South Korean ministry's Director General Maj. Gen. Jang Kyung-soo and U.S. Forces Korea's Maj. Gen. Robert Hedelund.After years of speculation over the local deployment of the U.S.-built Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, the allies announced last month that they will start discussing the U.S.-proposed deployment of the defense system in South Korea to better counter North Korea's growing missile threats.Friday's official talks were launched after the two sides signed terms of reference in forming the joint working group earlier in the day.The working level body will discuss an array of issues, including the military effectiveness of THAAD, appropriate sites for the deployment, timeline, cost-sharing, and the impact on

Mar 4, 2016

US amphibious ships, troops enter S. Korea for joint exercise

Three American amphibious vessels and their troops arrived in South Korea on Thursday to join a combined landing exercise with South Korean forces, United States Forces Korea (USFK) said.The Japan-based Expeditionary Strike Group Seven brought its flagship, the amphibious assault vessel USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) and two other dock landing ships to South Korea, along with more than 4,000 sailors and marines, according to USFK's statement.The 41,000-ton flagship and one of the landing vessels, the USS Ashland (LSD 48), entered the southern port city of Busan while the other, the USS Germantown (LSD 42), docked in Jinhae, the southeastern port town where a large South Korean naval base is situated. The Nagasaki-based vessels are tasked with the mission of transporting Okinawa-based U.S. marine forces, helicopters, landing boats and landing vehicles to a conflict area in the event of a war. The USS Bonhomme Richard, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, is capable of docking a hoard of seaborne combat aircraft and choppers, allowing the U.S. Navy'is strike group to engage in operation

Mar 3, 2016

China voices opposition to THAAD during UN Security Council meeting on N. Korea

China voiced opposition Wednesday to the potential deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system to South Korea during a U.N. Security Council meeting held to adopt a new resolution expanding sanctions on North Korea."China opposes the deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system on the Korean peninsula because such an action harms the strategic security interests of China and other countries of the region, goes against the goal of maintaining peace, security, and stability of the peninsula," China's U.N. ambassador, Liu Jieyi, said.THAAD's deployment "will seriously undermine the effort of the international community to seek the political solution to the question of the Korean peninsula," he said.China has expressed strong protests and complaints since South Korea and the U.S. jointly announced shortly after the North's Feb. 7 long-range missile test that they would begin official discussions on the possible placement of the THAAD system in South Korea.Both Seoul and Washington have repeatedly assured Beijing that THAAD is a purely defensive system. Last week, U.S. Secretary of

Mar 3, 2016

S. Korea begins 3-day anti-terrorism inspection of key facilities

South Korea kicked off its three-day inspection of airports, harbors and other key facilities on Wednesday to check readiness to counter any North Korean terrorist attack at the public facilities, the military said.The government has repeatedly warned of possible terrorist attacks carried out by North Korea on the South following the communist nation's recent nuclear test and launch of a long-range rocket. The public safety ministry and six other government agencies, the police and the National Intelligence Service will join the military in the inspection of public institutions, harbors, airports and key industry facilities, which will run through Friday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The inspection will look into readiness for drone-based or other types of potential terrorist attacks, according to the JCS. "With the latest inspection, the military plans to conduct joint checkups and anti-terrorism exercises on a regular basis in the future," a JCS official said. (Yonhap)

Mar 2, 2016

Assembly approves counter-terrorism bill after world record filibuster

Navy conducts anti-North exercise near new Jeju base

The Navy conducted its first military exercise near its new base on the southern island of Jeju on Wednesday to improve readiness to intercept suspicious vessels and submarine infiltration by North Korea.The Aegis destroyer Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong and three other Navy and Coast Guard vessels joined the drill which took place in the waters off the newly opened naval base on the south coast of Jeju Island, the Navy said in a statement.One submarine and two seaborne helicopters also took part in the exercise held earlier in the day. The military assets were deployed to intercept an enemy vessel in the scenario-based exercise where the Navy was ordered to stop and search a North Korean ship passing through the area with a load of weapons of mass destruction. The naval forces also demonstrated an operation to intercept the infiltration of a North Korean submarine, according to the Navy."Through the latest exercise which the Navy conducted on the occasion of the Jeju private-military port's completion, the Navy reaffirmed its determination to safeguard South Korea's maritime life line," the

Mar 2, 2016

SK heiress to serve at border unit

Chey Min-jeongBy Yi Whan-wooAn heiress of South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate SK Group is on a mission to protect the country’s western maritime border from North Korea as a naval officer, according to military officials, Tuesday. They said Chey Min-jeong, 24, the second daughter of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, is serving as a combat intelligence officer with a battle squadron under the Navy’s Second Fleet Command, which is responsible for defending the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea. Refusing to acknowledge the U.N.-created NLL, North Korea has crossed the border several times for years and often conducted deadly attacks.The officials added that Chey, a lieutenant junior grade, was assigned to her post in late January after carrying out anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and returning home Dec. 23.Her routine duty is to assist her battle squadron commander, to convey the commander’s instructions to subordinate units on time, to collect information concerning the squadron and to manage its communications system.She also accompanies h

Mar 1, 2016

US to use all possible defense capabilities to safeguard S. Korea: Seoul

The United States is committed to using the full range of its defense capabilities to safeguard South Korea in the event of war with North Korea, a defense ministry official here said Monday after attending a joint defense exercise in California.The allies held their annual anti-nuclear joint exercise at Vandenberg Air Force Base last week where some 40 defense officials from the two countries discussed warfare strategies to counter North Korea's nuclear and weapons of mass destruction threats. During the three-day exercise, the U.S. side demonstrated its contingency plan to deploy the U.S. Air Force's B-52 bomber to South Korea. The South Korean side has also been briefed on the aircraft's capacity to carry nuclear bombs, the official told reporters, asking not to be named.The global power also has a warfare strategy to intercept North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles with its Ground-Based Interceptor, known as GBI, if the communist country launches them at the mainland U.S., the official said, referring to a set of anti-North Korea combat strategies discussed in the exerc

Feb 29, 2016

Military to resume sending propaganda leaflets

By Rachel LeeThe South Korean military plans to resume sending propaganda leaflets using balloons to North Korea soon after a 12-year hiatus, a defense official said Friday.The move comes after the North Korean military dropped an estimated one million leaflets into the South last month condemning President Park Geun-hye and the ruling Saenuri Party.The South Korean military stopped sending leaflets in 2004, and only civic activists have since been allowed to do it.“North Korea has been continuously slandering the President, and we will not take it anymore,” the official said. “The Ministry of National Defense is preparing propaganda leaflets to inform people in North Korea about what is happening outside their country.”Sending leaflets will be resumed as soon as the wind shifts from north-to-south to south-to-north, the official said.“The leaflets will explain the absurdity of the North Koran leader Kim Jong-un and his regime,” the official said.Seoul resumed loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts on Jan. 8 in response to Pyongyang’s claim to hav

Feb 26, 2016

N. Korea faces blockade on all sides

Jeju's new naval base to allow strong response to N. Korea: Prime Minister

South Korea's new naval base on the southern resort island of Jeju would enable the Navy to strongly respond to possible high-seas standoffs with North Korea, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said Friday.The naval base, built for both military and commercial purposes, was officially launched, wrapping up the landmark naval project that cost more than 1 trillion won (806 million dollars)."Our Navy situated here will be able to respond more strongly against North Korea's marine threats," Hwang said during a launching ceremony, citing the North's persistent provocations.The new naval base, billed by the Navy as Jeju's civilian-military sea port, took the country 23 years to complete after years of concerns over possible increased regional tension.Hwang said the Jeju naval base "will protect our sea by being located in the middle of the waters of the Korean Peninsula."The port is capable of docking 20 combat vessels and two of the largest class of cruise ships simultaneously.Set up along the southern coast of Jeju, the foot of South Korea, the base will host some 3,000 warships, submarines a