my timesThe Korea Times
South Korea

Defense

Korea, Cambodia agree on sharing military supplies

Korea and Cambodia have agreed to share military supplies in peacekeeping and rescue operations as part of efforts to expand military ties between the two sides, the defense ministry here said Tuesday. Lee Seon-chul, the head of the South Korean defense ministry's logistics management bureau, and Army Lt. Gen. Chau Phirun, the chief supply officer at Cambodia's defense ministry, signed the memorandum of understanding on the bilateral logistics cooperation in a meeting in Seoul. Under the agreement, the two countries will share military supplies during U.N. peacekeeping operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts, the ministry said. "The need for inter-state logistics support and cooperation is rising amid growing activities of U.N. peacekeepers and frequent natural disasters across the world," the ministry said in a statement. "We expect this MOU with Cambodia to help promote logistics cooperation between the two countries and contribute to global peace and humanitarian assistance." Seoul currently has logistics agreements with 10 other nations -- the

Aug 7, 2012

Korea picks BAE Systems for fighter jet upgrade project

Korea has selected British defense firm BAE Systems Inc. for a 1.3 trillion won ($1.1 billion) project to upgrade the country's aging KF-16 fighter jets, the state arms procurement agency said Tuesday. The multi-year project calls for upgrading a total of 134 KF-16 fighters by improving mission computers and operating systems with the latest versions and by replacing current radars with active electronically scanned array, also known as AESA, to double the detection range by 2021, according to the Defense Acquisition and Procurement Agency (DAPA). The U.S. branch of BAE Systems competed with American defense giant Lockheed Martin to win the deal under a foreign military sales program with lower bid prices, the DAPA said. The DAPA said it will send a letter of request to the U.S. government and sign the contract later this year. (Yonhap)

Jul 31, 2012

Korea, China to hold defense talks in Beijing this week

Korea's vice defense minister departed for Beijing Monday for talks with a top Chinese military official expected to focus mainly on expanding military logistics cooperation for disaster relief between the two nations, officials said. During his four-day trip, Lee Yong-gul will meet Gen. Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese army, to talk about security issues on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, the ministry said in a release, without elaborating on the agenda. The two sides are expected to talk about signing a memorandum of understanding on boosting cooperation on mutual logistical support in case of a large-scale disaster, ministry officials said. Working-level officials of the two sides previously discussed the issue in a military meeting in October. "The two sides will discuss the memorandum of understanding of the mutual military logistics agreement for disaster relief efforts and make a regular study group to expand personnel exchanges," a ministry official said, noting more details will be disclosed after Tuesday meeting. The meeti

Jul 30, 2012

Korea pushes to toughen rule on conscription deferment

Korea is pushing to toughen the conscription deferment process to make it harder for those with permanent residence or permission to stay long term in foreign countries to delay their military service up to the maximum age, the state conscription service said Wednesday. The Military Manpower Administration (MMA) said it has prepared a bill to require conscripts with permanent residence rights or long-term visas valid for over five years to stay at least three years in foreign countries to put off military duty calls until the age of 37. The current law only demands one year of overseas stay to meet the qualification. All able-bodied Korean men between the ages of 18 and 35 must serve in the military for about two years to help deter North Korea's possible aggression. The latest move comes after some Korean sports stars based overseas have come under fire for their attempts to use the privilege for a maximum delay of their military conscription. Among them was Park Chu-young, 27, an Arsenal striker who obtained a 10-year visa from Monaco while he was playing for AS Monaco fr

Jul 25, 2012

Korea mulls partially extending mission in Afghanistan to 2014

Korea is considering extending its reconstruction mission in Afghanistan by two years, a move that would allow some 60 combat troops to continue to protect its aid workers in the war-torn country until 2014, a government official said Wednesday. Some 150 Korean aid workers and police officers have conducted a reconstruction mission in the northern Afghan city of Charikar since mid-2010, protected by some 350 troops stationed there. Their mission is set to end at the end of this year. South Korea plans to allow some of its Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) workers, mostly medical staff at the U.S. air base in Bagram, to stay there until 2014, when NATO troops pull out of Afghanistan. "Because some PRT workers are planning to stay in Afghanistan until 2014, consultations are underway among relevant ministries to keep some troops there to protect them," the official said on the condition of anonymity. The government is expected to ask the National Assembly in September to extend the withdrawal deadline for about 60 troops in Afghanistan, while withdrawing 290 troops an

Jul 25, 2012

Korea set to resume production of K-11 assault rifles

Korea's state procurement agency said Monday it has fixed defects that caused its K-11 assault rifles to explode in a test last year and will resume its production as early as later this month. The Defense Acquisition Procurement Agency (DAPA) said a task force team has modified designs of the hybrid assault rifles and improved the shooting control system to upgrade the older models, which exploded during a function test in October last year. The K-11 rifles, jointly developed by S&T Daewoo and the Agency for Defense Development, were first distributed to Korean troops in May 2010. But the defense ministry halted their use due to high defection rates. The Korean-made hybrid rifles use 5.56 mm rounds and can also fire a 20 mm airburst projectile to attack targets hidden behind buildings or walls. The DAPA said it will resume arms production as soon as the Army decides to adopt the rifles on the battlefield after the ongoing test is completed later this month. (Yonhap)

Jul 23, 2012

Korea, US to conduct joint military exercise in late Aug.

Korean and U.S. forces will launch their annual joint exercise in late August to improve their defense posture against the belligerent North Korea, military officials said Monday. The Combined Forces Command (CFC) said in a statement the two allies will hold the Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) from Aug. 20-31. The computer-aided exercises will mobilize some 56,000 South Korean troops and about 30,000 U.S. soldiers, including some 3,000 from the U.S. and other bases around the Pacific region, the CFC said. The CFC said the troops from seven United Nations Command states -- Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway and France -- will participate in the drill as observers. "Ulchi Freedom Guardian is a key exercise to strengthen the readiness of Republic of Korea and U.S. forces," Gen. James Thurman, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said in a statement. "It is based on realistic scenarios and enables us to train on our essential tasks with a whole of government." North Korea has long balked at these joint maneuvers, claiming they amount to a prelude to war. Seo

Jul 23, 2012

Korea to start development of heavyweight torpedo

Korea will start developing heavyweight submarine-launched torpedoes to improve the Navy's capability for long-range attacks on enemy ships and submarines, the state procurement agency said Wednesday. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said it approved the 70 billion won ($61.3 million) for the heavyweight torpedo development and two other missile-related projects in a meeting hosted by Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin. The DAPA said it will open bids for the torpedo project next month, review proposals in October and start development in December. The heavyweight torpedo project, the fourth of its kind in the nation, will be completed by 2017, the agency said. In the meeting, the state agency also picked three preferred bidders for a project to upgrade a mid-range surface-to-air missile to make it capable of evading ballistic missiles. The development of the Cheolmae-2 missile, a simplified version of Russia's S-400 designed for use against aircraft and ships, was completed in December last year after five years of production. The state agency said it

Jul 18, 2012

Exclusive Hasty copter project in doubt

By Lee Tae-hoon A lawmaker said Wednesday that the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) will be awarded a chopper deal worth 6 trillion won ($5.292 billion), the country’s biggest arms deal ever for a local company, despite its failure to fully address safety concerns. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) plans to place the multibillion-dollar-order in December this year, according to Rep. Shin Hak-yong of the main opposition Democratic United Party. “DAPA must not make a hasty decision. It should consider delaying the order until all necessary tests and evaluations are completed,” the three term lawmaker said. He stressed that the incumbent administration is pushing to conclude more than $15 billion worth of arms purchase deals by the end of the year without proper assessment of the projects.

Jul 18, 2012

N. Korea's army chief Ri Yong-ho relieved of all posts

North Korea said Monday that its military chief Ri Yong-ho, known as one of the closest confidants of leader Kim Jong-un, has been removed from all his posts because of his "illness." "A meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party decided to relieve Ri Yong-ho of all his posts for his illness," the North's Korean Central News Agency said in a brief dispatch from Pyongyang. The media said Lee was dismissed in the party's Sunday meeting as a member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the party and a vice-chairman of the party's Central Military Commission. But the KCNA did not elaborate on whether Ri also lost his position as the army's chief of the General Staff or whether a successor has been selected for the outgoing official. The 70-year-old Ri, who rose to the ranking positions in the Kim Jong-un regime, was previously known as a key figure who helped Kim seize control of the military following the death of his father and former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il last De

Jul 16, 2012
previous page
451452453454455
next page

Most Read in South Korea