South Korea - The Korea Times

Defense ministry to complete cleanup of former US bases this week

The defense ministry said Thursday it is scheduled to finish cleaning up former U.S. military bases returned to South Korea by the end of this week. The ministry said 16 former U.S. installations have been cleaned up after more than two and a half years of work, covering 425.7 million square meters. One other base will join the list by July next year, it added. The U.S. forces here have returned 48 of 80 designated bases amid an ongoing relocation of their troops, and 17 of those 48 showed soil contamination levels that exceeded South Korean legal standards, the ministry said. The ministry added it commissioned Korea Rural Community Corp. and Korea Environment Corp. to do the remediation work for about 172 billion won (US$148.7 million). It plans to carry out similar cleanup projects for bases that will be returned after 2012. Thirteen of the 16 bases are located in the northern part of Gyeonggi Province near the border with North Korea, while two are in Seoul and one is in Gangwon Province in the northeastern part of South Korea. The ministry said the former U.S. in

Dec 29, 2011

Korea to buy 2 advanced spy planes from France

Korea plans to buy two advanced reconnaissance planes from France by 2015, to allow the military to intercept radio messages from of North Korea, a government source said Monday. The military will replace some of its aging spy planes with the militarized specialty version of "Falcon-2000" jet, produced by France's Dassault Aviation, to keep closer watch on North Korea, the source said on the condition of anonymity. "The military decided to introduce two Falcon-2000 reconnaissance planes to replace its old spy planes that have a short range and old equipment," the source said. The decision comes after Korea's intelligence and military leaders came under fire for failing to detect the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il until the North announced it a week earlier. Kim, who ruled North Korea with an iron fist after inheriting power from his father and national founder Kim Il-sung in 1994, was reported to have died of a heart attack on Dec. 17. South Korea's Air Force is currently using a fleet of RC-800s, built by U.S. firm Raytheon, for tactical reconnaissance

Dec 26, 2011

Deployment of indigenous missile completed

The deployment of Korea's indigenous guided missile has been completed, the state defense procurement body said Monday. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said it chaired a meeting of military and industry officials over the end of production of the Chunma missile. The DAPA said Chunma missiles, which entered mass production in 1999, were placed at an Air Force aerial defense unit and an Army artillery unit this year for the final deployment. It said a total of about 100 Chunma missiles have been produced. "By putting Chunma at corps-size units on the front line and around Seoul, we've established capabilities for early response against surprise aerial offensives," the DAPA said in a statement. Chunma, a guided ground-to-air missile, can detect and pursue fighter jets up to 20 kilometers away, and it can intercept aircraft flying 5 kilometers above ground within 10 seconds, according to experts. Sources have said the missiles were also added to units on the border islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong last year, after the North bombed Yeonpyeong in Nove

Dec 19, 2011

Korea to develop stealth infiltration boats: source

Korea is pushing to develop infiltration boats equipped with stealth functions as part of efforts to increase its maritime combat ability, a military source said Saturday. "(The military) is pushing to develop stealth function-equipped special infiltration boats and other supporting craft with the nation's own technologies by spending about 900 billion won (US$777.2 million)," the source said on condition of anonymity. Under the project, the military will build about 20-30 special infiltration boats and 5-6 supporting craft designed to carry troops and travel along shorelines during military operations. Earlier, the government set aside 3.3 billion won for next year to design such infiltration boats. (Yonhap)

Dec 17, 2011

Korea unveils indigenous interceptor missile

Korea on Thursday unveiled an indigenous interceptor missile built to counter North Korean jets and missiles. The Agency for Defense Development (ADD) introduced the Iron Hawk-II surface-to-air missile in a ceremony at its headquarters in Daejeon, about 160 kilometers south of Seoul. The ADD said it and 15 local defense companies built the missile after more than five years of work. According to the ADD, the Iron Hawk-II can travel at 10 kilometers to 15 kilometers above ground, with a range of up to 40 kilometers. It has been designed to target North Korean ballistic missiles and fighter jets traveling at a similar altitude. The ADD said the Iron Hawk-II can also intercept air-to-surface guided missiles. It added the new missile can attack multiple targets with a single radar system and boast better accuracy than other surface-to-air guided weapons currently in operation. "The multi-functional radar on the Iron Hawk-II can detect and identify enemy airplanes and can also guide the missile toward the target," the ADD said in a statement. "This will vastly improve our forc

Dec 15, 2011

Second spy plane delivered for deployment

A second U.S.-made advanced surveillance aircraft has been delivered to Korea's Air Force, the state procurement agency said Tuesday. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said the Air Force will soon deploy its second E-737 by Boeing. Based on Boeing's 737-700, the airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft earned the moniker "Peace Eye" after a naming contest in 2008. In 2006, Korea reached a $1.6 billion deal with Boeing to purchase four E-737s. The first Peace Eye arrived in South Korea in August and was delivered to the Air Force in September. The DAPA said that under Boeing's supervision, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), a local aerospace company, built the radar and other electronic parts on the second E-737. The E-737, equipped with a sophisticated radar system called Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA), can detect and monitor up to 1,000 airborne or surface targets simultaneously, it said. (Yonhap)

Dec 13, 2011

South seeks revenge for Yeonpyeong shelling

Two Koreas build up military postures around island Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of North Korea’s deadly bombardment on South Korea’s border island of Yeonpyeong, which killed two Marines and two civilians. It was the North’s first artillery attack on a civilian-populated area in the South since the 1950-53 Korean War. ― ED. YEONPYEONG ISLAND ― A year after North Korea’s surprise shelling barrage on Nov. 23, scars still run deep across this tiny fishing island. Soldiers who witnessed the tragic event seldom talk about it as this brings back disturbing memories, but they are busy preparing for a day to pay back the suffering that people on Yeonpyeong Island had to endure. One particularly noticeable change is a military buildup and readiness on the border island, which is only 3 kilometers away from the North’s Seok Island, and 12 kilometers from its western coastal artillery base. Yeonpyeong is so close to the North’s military base that the average healthy young man could swim to the island to defect. In fact, a bold North Korean soldier came to the island and

Nov 21, 2011

One killed in chopper crash during exercise

By Lee Tae-hoon The Army said Wednesday that a helicopter pilot was killed and his co-pilot injured after a crash landing during the annual Hoguk military exercise in Wonju, Gangwon Province. “A 500MD light attack helicopter made an emergency landing at around 2:30 p.m. in Buron, Wonju during the Hogul drill,” he said, noting that military investigators had yet to indentify the exact cause of the incident. “The Army has issued a flight ban on all 500MDs.” A warrant officer, identified as Hong, died shortly after being taken to a military hospital. The co-pilot, a Major Cho, suffered a broken leg without life-threatening wounds. The official added that the crashed chopper was manufactured in 1988. Korea is known to operate some 250 of the light helicopters with more than half of them manufactured more than 30 years ago. The official said the exact cause of the clash had yet to be determined, but inspectors found that the tail section of the chopper had been damaged. “The chopper was hovering as part of an air strike drill during the exercise,” an official

Nov 2, 2011

F-35: a game changer in modern warfare

By Lee Tae-hoon Officials of Lockheed Martin say that the F-35 Lightning II is a game changer in 21st century warfare where most nations are trying to reduce their defense budgets amid a volatile economic climate. They claim that the F-35 is the only fighter jet available on the market with all-aspect stealth, first-look, first-shot, first-kill capabilities at an affordable price to purchase and sustain over the next few decades. “The F-35’s very low observable (VLO) stealth feature revolutionizes the way pilots engage or fight adversaries,” said David Scott, director of the company’s F-35 international customer engagement office. He made the remarks against claims from its rivals, EADS and Boeing, that the F-35’s stealth capability may become obsolete as the latter’s Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars or other advanced radars can detect the stealth aircraft upon the opening of its internal weapons bay to fire a missile. Dogfight debate “They are saying that it is not valuable to detect somebody at a long range, but it is,” Scott argued. “It a

Oct 24, 2011

’South remains defenseless to North’s missile threats’

By Lee Tae-hoon Despite its continuous efforts to beef up air defense capabilities, officials acknowledge that South Korea remains highly vulnerable to growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. Seoul will be unable to properly counter North Korea’s ballistic missiles capable of carrying chemical or even nuclear warheads for the next 10 years, Noh Dae-lae, the head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), admitted in a National Assembly audit late September. In 2007, the South Korean military purchased 48 secondhand Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) systems from Germany, rather than new PAC-3 units largely due to budget constraints, but their ability to intercept North Korean missiles is limited. “Earlier versions of patriot systems were designed to counter air-breathing targets, things with engines in them, such as jets and helicopters, fixed wing aircraft,”said Morri Leland, director of International Business Development at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “But threats have evolved and now there is a need to counter theat