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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

Military ready to deal with NK provocation over propaganda leaflets

South Korea's military said Sunday that its troops are on heightened readiness to deal resolutely with any provocation from North Korea over the planned sending of propaganda leaflets this week by local civic groups. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said military units have been on high alert ever since Pyongyang threatened to launch military attacks on a South Korean border region Friday. It said without going into details that artillery batteries that cover the Imjin Pavilion area on the western edge of the inter-Korean border have been strengthened, while combat air patrols by F-15K and KF-16 fighters have been increased. All commanders have also been told to stay in their posts. The JCS added that military readiness will be heightened to the highest level on Monday when civic groups plan to launch around 200,000 leaflets using large balloons. The pavilion is often used as a site to send balloons carrying anti-North Korean leaflets criticizing the communist country and its leadership into the North. North Korea warned on Friday it will launch a "merciless military st

Oct 21, 2012

Besieged military chief replaces US visit with video conference

Korea's military chief under siege for serious border security loopholes has decided to cancel his planned trip to the United States for annual defense talks, officials said Thursday. Gen. Jung Seung-jo, the chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), will instead be involved in the crucial defense talks slated for next week in Washington via a video conference at his office in Seoul in a rare move in the history of the bilateral military talks, the JCS said. Jung had initially planned to visit Washington to jointly preside over the Military Committee Meeting (MCM) with his American counterpart Gen. Martin Dempsey, which is slated for Oct. 23. The senior-level military meeting will be held ahead of the South Korea-U.S. defense ministerial meeting on Oct. 24, which is expected to coordinate policy on North Korea and draft follow-up measures for a revised bilateral missile pact that extended Seoul's missile range. Instead of a trip to the U.S., Jung will concentrate on handling border security issues after a North Korean solider crossed the heavily fortified bord

Oct 18, 2012

Navy chief reaffirms commitment to maritime border

The Navy chief said Thursday South Korea will safeguard its western sea border with North Korea at all costs, saying it is clearly a borderline a number of lives have been lost to defend. Admiral Choi Yoon-hee made the remark as rival parties continued to lock horns over allegations that former President Roh Moo-hyun promised during his 2007 summit with then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il that Seoul would not insist on the boundary that Pyongyang does not recognize. The allegations, raised by a ruling party lawmaker earlier this month, are believed to be targeted at the opposition Democratic United Party presidential candidate, Moon Jae-in, who served as chief of staff to Roh. North Korea has never recognized the maritime boundary, known as the Northern Limit Line (NLL), which was drawn unilaterally by the U.S.-led United Nations Command when the 1950-53 Korean War ended, and demands that the line be drawn further south. Areas near the border have been the scene of a number of bloody inter-Korean clashes. The two sides fought naval gun-battles in the area in 1999, 2002 a

Oct 18, 2012

Korea to start annual defense drill next week

Korea's military will launch a large-scale annual exercise across the country next week to bolster its defense posture against North Korean threats, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Thursday. The annual "Hoguk Exercise" will take place from Oct. 25 to Nov. 2, with the participation of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Marine Corps as well as government officials and police officers, the JCS said. About 500 U.S. troops will also take part in the drills for interoperability between the forces of the two allies, it said. "This year's exercise expanded in size in a bid to foster joint combat capabilities to prepare for provocations by North Korea and an all-out war, considering the recent security situations," the JCS said in a statement. Pyongyang has stepped up its harsh rhetoric against South Korea and the U.S. after Seoul announced a new arms deal with Washington earlier this month under which it can extend the range of its missiles from the present 300 kilometers to 800 km. That distance is long enough to strike any part of the North. The communist na

Oct 18, 2012

Besieged military struggles to contain fallout from border security failure

The defense ministry sought Tuesday to dispel suspicions the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) lied about a North Korean soldier's defection across the heavily armed border, blaming incorrect reports from a subordinate for the wrong statement. The North's soldier scaled rows of barbed wire fences on the eastern sector of the inter-Korean border and defected to the South on Oct. 2, in what is considered one of South Korea's biggest border security failures in recent years. Six days after the incident, JCS chairman Jung Seung-jo disclosed the defection during a parliamentary audit, and said the soldier was taken into custody after being detected by a surveillance camera. It was later revealed that the South Korean guards were unaware of the defector until he arrived at their barracks building and knocked on the door and the surveillance camera was not recording at the time. On Monday, Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin issued a public apology and announced strong disciplinary measures against a total of 14 senior Army officers, including five general-grade officers.

Oct 16, 2012

Korea, US jointly open eco-friendly ammunition disposal facility

An ammunition disposal facility jointly invested in by Korea and the United States opened in a southern county to disable military ammunition in a more environmentally friendly manner, the defense ministry said Tuesday. The ammunition recycling-demilitarization facility began operation in Yeongdong, 214 kilometers south of Seoul, after 13 years of planning and construction with 43.5 billion won (US$39.3 million) funded by the two nations. Under a bilateral deal signed in 1999, South Korea provided the land for the facility and built an incinerator in 2007, while the U.S. added a smelting furnace in 2009. The U.S. is to pay Korea for using the demilitarization facility and the two countries will each pick up the cost of recycling or demilitarizing ammunition, depending on the amount processed, the ministry said. The ministry said the facility will adhere to local standards on environmental protection. Previously, disabled ammunition was buried underground or burned outdoors, raising concerns about environmental safety. "In the past, ammunition waste was exploded or

Oct 16, 2012

Korea, US to discuss follow-up measures of new missile agreement next week

South Korea and the United States will hold high-level defense talks next week that are expected to focus on how to strengthen their joint defense posture against North Korea under a new agreement on extending the range of the South's ballistic missiles, officials said Tuesday. South Korean defense minister Kim Kwan-jin and his counterpart Leon Panetta will meet in Washington on Oct. 24 for the annual Security Consultative Meeting to discuss how to handle threats from North Korea and maintain a close alliance for stability in the region, the ministry said in a release. This year's meeting will focus on how to prepare a joint defense posture under the revised missile guideline announced earlier this month, which extended the range of Seoul's missiles from 500 kilometers to 800 km, by integrating the major military command system between the two allies, according to ministry officials. Under the agreement, Seoul will continue to limit the payload to 500 kilograms for ballistic missiles with an 800-kilometer range, but will be able to use heavier payloads for missiles with sh

Oct 16, 2012

S. Korea spurs regional arms race headed by China: CSIS

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- South Korea's military spending rose 67 percent over the past decade, helping spur Asia's arms race led by China, a think tank here said in a report. "South Korea's total defense spending increased in constant 2011 (US) dollars from $17.1 billion in 2000 to $28.6 billion in 2011," the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in the report on Asia's defense expenditures. "The most significant growth took place between 2005 and 2007 leading to a spending peak of $30.1 billion in 2007," it added. The research covers South Korea, China, Japan, India, and Taiwan, which account for around 87 percent of Asia's defense spending. With the exception of 2009, the CSIS noted, South Korea boasted the second-largest per-soldier spending of all five nations examined. South Korea has about 650,000 troops to confront a 1.1-million-soldier military in North Korea. Per-soldier spending jumped from about $25,100 in 2000 to $43,600 in 2011, with peak spending of $43,700 in 2007, according to the CSIS, based on reports by the South Korea's defense m

Oct 16, 2012

5 generals to be punished over lax border security

Korea's military announced sweeping disciplinary action against five Army generals and nine other senior officers Monday, holding them responsible for failing to detect a North Korean soldier's defection through the heavily armed border and mishandling situation reports. Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin also issued a public apology over the undetected defection early this month of a North Korean soldier through the heavily armed border, which is considered one of South Korea's biggest security failures in recent years. "I acknowledge that the North Korean soldier's defection apparently shows the failure of security and flaws in the emergency reporting system. I sincerely apologize for causing worries," Kim said during a press conference held at the defense ministry. "The military has failed to promptly inform the people, causing confusion." The military has been under strong criticism for failing to detect the Oct. 2 crossing, especially following revelations that the North Korean soldier was taken into custody only after he knocked on the entrance to a front-line unit on the

Oct 15, 2012

PACOM: S. Korea's improved missiles to boost 'defensive capability' against NK

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) said Sunday that Korea's improved missile range will bolster its "defensive capability" to counter North Korea's ballistic missile threat. It emphasized the communist nation poses the most urgent threat to its area of jurisdiction -- the Pacific Ocean. "This improved range distance will provide a defensive capability that will allow the ROK and allies to defend against the DPRK ballistic missile threat," the Hawaii-based command said in response to an inquiry by Yonhap News Agency. The DPRK stands for North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. After years of negotiations, the U.S. recently agreed to allow South Korea to develop ballistic missiles with a range of up to 800 kilometers (500 miles), nearly triple the previous range of 300km. Seoul has been subject to such a bilateral missile guideline for decades in exchange for access to Washington's missile technology. The PACOM commands more than 300,000 military personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, and its role ha

Oct 15, 2012
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