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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.

US supercarrier to lead joint drills with S. Korea off Yellow Sea

A nuclear-powered American aircraft carrier is in position off the west coast of South Korea to lead large-scale military exercises aimed at honing the two countries' joint capability to cope with North Korean aggression, Seoul officials said Friday, amid the North's saber-rattling. About 10 warships and submarines, including the George Washington Carrier Striker Group; 8,000 personnel; and hundreds of combat aircraft from the allies will take part in the three-day exercises from Saturday, said officials at Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The drills, a follow-up of a two-day, trilateral naval drill with Japan in waters south of Jeju Island, will be held off the west coast town of Taean, 150 kilometers south of Seoul, JCS officials said. "Throughout the joint military exercises, South Korean and U.S. forces will show off their resolute capabilities," Navy Brig. Gen Park Seong-bae said. "We will immediately retaliate against any provocations from North Korea." Tension on the Korean Peninsula remains high following the North's two military attacks that killed 50 So

Jun 22, 2012

Korea, US, Japan kick off trilateral naval drills

South Korea, the United States and Japan started two-day trilateral naval drills on Thursday in waters south of the Korean Peninsula as North Korea bristled at the exercise as a "reckless provocation." The maneuvers off the southern island of Jeju are aimed at improving interoperability and communications between the navies of the three nations to facilitate cooperative disaster relief and maritime security activities, officials said. The exercise is being staged beyond the territorial waters of any coastal nation, officials said. Seoul's defense ministry officials declined to reveal how many military personnel or ships were mobilized for the trilateral exercise, which has been held since 2008. The U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, will take part in the exercise Friday then will join a separate joint drill with South Korea set for Saturday through Monday, the U.S. Defense Department said in a statement. On Thursday, North Korea's ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun denounced the three-nation exercise as a "reckless provocation."

Jun 21, 2012

Philippines to buy TA-50 light attack aircraft from Korea: report

HANOI (Yonhap) -- The Philippine air force will purchase 12 TA-50 light attack aircraft from South Korea in a deal worth 25 billion pesos (about US$591.3 million), a local news report said Wednesday. Each aircraft costs 1.25 billion pesos with the dozen fighter jets expected to be delivered by 2013, ABS-CBN news of the Philippines reported on its Web site, citing officials at the Philippine air force. South Korea rolled out the armed version of its T-50 supersonic trainer jet early last year and has deployed the TA-50 in stages since then. The TA-50 is designed as a full-fledged attack platform as it can carry precision-guided weapons such as AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and TGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missiles.

Jun 20, 2012

Army must keep troop level at 420,000 through 2030: military experts

The Army needs to slow down its troop reduction and maintain a troop level of at least 420,000 through 2030 in the face of North Korea's 1.02-million-strong army, two military experts claimed Tuesday. Under the Army's troop-cut plan, which has been in the offing for years to streamline and modernize its forces, the number of its troops will be reduced to about 500,000 in phases by 2020 and 387,000 by 2030, from the current level of 650,000. The plan has drawn concern since North Korea's two military attacks in 2010 -- the sinking of the Cheonan warship and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island -- killed 50 South Koreans, mostly soldiers. "The large-scale reduction of ground troops, which could cause catastrophic consequences in the future, should be implemented after verification," the experts said in a joint report presented at a security forum hosted by the Army. The experts are Kwon Hyeok-chul, a professor at Korea National Defense University and Lee Chun-keun, a senior researcher at the Korea Economic Research Institute. The Army's troop-cut plan was set years befo

Jun 19, 2012

Korea, US to hold largest-ever drill to mark 62nd anniversary of war

Korean and U.S. armed forces will hold their largest live-fire exercise this week to mark the 62nd anniversary of the start of the Korean War, as tensions continue between the two Koreas, officials said Monday. The Friday exercise in Pocheon near the tense border with the North will involve more than 2,000 troops, F-15K combat fighter planes, Apache attack helicopters and tanks, said officials at Seoul's defense ministry. The one-day drill, to be presided over by Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, is aimed at displaying a watertight defense posture and war-fighting capabilities, ministry officials said. An E-737 Airborne Early Warning and Control plane, dubbed "Peace Eye," and T/A-50 light attack aircraft will take part in such a joint drill for the first time, officials said. The drill plans to demonstrate how the allies would counter an attack by North Korean armed forces by re-enacting the invasion by the North 62 years ago, officials said. The Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, when tank-led North Korean troops invaded South Korea. The United States and 20 other

Jun 18, 2012

'Korea, US, Japan naval exercise to enhance defensive capabilities'

WASHINGTON(Yonhap) -- The commander of the U.S. Pacific Command said Friday that the planned joint naval exercise between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan is "no surprise" and aims to enhance defensive capabilities of the key allies. In a press conference held at the Pentagon, Adm. Samuel Locklear pointed out that South Korea and Japan are important partners for the United States in the Pacific region. He said the exercise will help improve joint operational skills and make it possible to find shortcomings in the mutual defense system so they can be corrected. Locklear expected to learn a lot from the three country exercise set to run from Thursday to Friday in waters south of Jeju Island. In addition, South Korea and U.S. naval forces will engage in maneuvers in the Yellow Sea for three days starting on Saturday that will involve deployment of the U.S. aircraft carrier USS George Washington. The joint naval operations will involve mock search and rescue operations and maritime interdiction drills. Surface combatants, logistics ships and various air assets are to be used i

Jun 16, 2012

Korea, US seek to transform front-line American unit into joint forces

South Korea and the United States are seeking to transform a front-line American military unit near the border with North Korea into joint forces of the two allies to better deter the communist nation, a senior military source said Friday. The proposed transformation, if realized, would likely mean that the 2nd Infantry Division won't move away from the border with the North under a force realignment plan, and continue to play a "tripwire" role deterring North Korean aggression, the source said. The forward-deployed division, which has been considered a symbol of the Korea-U.S. military alliance, is currently scheduled to move to Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, once South Korea takes over wartime operational control of its troops in December 2015. "If the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division is transformed into a joint unit, it will likely remain north of the Han River," the source said. "I believe it will play a tripwire role triggering automatic U.S. military involvement in the event North Korea attacked the South." The armies of the two countries are in "in-depth discu

Jun 15, 2012

Panetta says missile talks with Korea making progress

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta expressed optimism Thursday over talks with South Korea on its push to develop greater ballistic missile capability. "I think we are making good progress," he said during a joint press conference with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan also joined in, describing the outcome of their one-day talks here. The meeting marked the second "two-plus-two" session of the top diplomats and defense officials from the allies. The first one was held two years ago in Seoul. Panetta said he hopes for a conclusion to one of the most sensitive issues between the two sides. Seoul can't possess ballistic missiles with the range of more than 300 km (186 miles) and a payload heavier than 500 kg (1,102 pounds) under a 2001 agreement with Washington. Korea's conservatives have been calling for an extension of the range to cover all of North Korea and reduce the missile gap between the two, still technically at war. But Korea's defense

Jun 15, 2012

Exclusive Pentagon okays chopper reinforcements for Korea

By Lee Tae-hoon The U.S. government has approved a plan to deploy an additional attack-reconnaissance helicopter squadron in South Korea in response to the growing security threats from North Korea, a spokeswoman for the United States Forces Korea (USFK) said Thursday. “The squadron is already authorized, just not on hand,” USFK spokeswoman Jennifer Buschick said. She noted that USFK Commander Gen. James Thurman, requested that the U.S. Army provide an attack-reconnaissance squadron to be attached to the 2nd U.S. Combat Aviation Brigade in South Korea. “We are authorized a battalion-sized element,” she said. “He determined that an additional battalion-sized element is needed for operational requirements.” A military official said an attack-reconnaissance squadron may consist of 30 OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed reconnaissance helicopters or other new reconnaissance choppers, or a combination of reconnaissance choppers and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. “It would be wrong to assume that an attack-reconnaissance squadron that Gen. Thurman has been pushing to acquire

Jun 14, 2012

Korea, US, Japan to stage joint naval exercise next week

Korea, the United States and Japan will hold a joint naval exercise next week involving mock search and rescue operations and maritime interdiction drills, Seoul's defense ministry said Thursday. The exercise will be held off Korea's southern resort island of Jeju next Thursday and Friday, and will mobilize destroyers, logistics support ships and antisubmarine helicopters, the ministry said. The three countries have staged joint naval drills since 2008. The ministry also jointly announced with the Pentagon a plan to hold a separate joint naval exercise between the two countries in the Yellow Sea on June 23-25. The annual drill will involve antisubmarine drills against a North Korean invasion by sea, surface ship maneuvers and submarine detection exercises. The U.S. aircraft carrier USS George Washington is expected to take part in the drills, the ministry said. (Yonhap)

Jun 14, 2012
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