South Korea - The Korea Times

Army chief suspected of speculation

By Jung Sung-ki Army Chief of Staff Gen. Hwang Eui-don is suspected of having engaged in real estate speculation based on inside information about the government’s relaxation of regulations on the height of buildings around military installations. According to military sources, Hwang bought a two-story building with a total floor area of 316 square meters near the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan, Seoul, in August 2002. At that time, Hwang served as the spokesman for the ministry. Just four months after buying the building, the ministry announced a plan to relax the height of buildings in the Yongsan area to allow construction of buildings of up to 95 meters in height. Hwang subsequently borrowed about 760 million won ($670,000) from the bank and remodeled the building to make it a six-story building with a total floor area of 1,013 square meters in 2003, according to the sources. The building is now worth about 6 billion won, as the government-assed land value spiked from some 500 million won to about 2.1 billion won in the past few years. Amid such

Dec 9, 2010

US fully backs Seoul’s right of self-defense

By Jung Sung-ki The United States is supportive of South Korea invoking the right of self-defense that allows its military to launch precision-guided air strikes on North Korean targets, should the latter attack South Korean territory and people again, a top U.S. commander said Wednesday. South Korea and the United States will draw up a new operational plan to respond to North Korea’s low-intensity provocation near land and sea borders in the aftermath of a series of deadly attacks on South Koreans in recent months, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Mullen made the remarks during a joint press conference with his South Korean counterpart Gen. Han Min-koo after their high-profile meeting in Seoul. “South Korea is a sovereign nation that has every right to protect its people and to respond as it sees fit in order to effectively carry out that responsibility,” Mullen said. “It also has the right to choose the method with which it responds. Certainly there are a variety of options that South Korea has, that the United States has inside t

Dec 8, 2010

S. Korea, US to hold military talks on N.Korea

By Jung Sung-ki Top military commanders of South Korea and the United States will hold talks in Seoul today regarding joint measures to deter future provocation by North Korea, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the U.S. Department of Defense Tuesday. The meeting takes place on the heels of North Korea’s artillery attack on one of South Korea’s islands near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea, a flash point for inter-Korean conflicts. South Korea and the United States staged a massive naval-readiness exercise in the western waters after the deadly attack in a show of strength against the North. Participants at Wednesday’s meeting will include JCS chairman Gen. Han Min-koo; Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff; U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Walter Sharp; Lt. Gen. Jeong Hong-yong, director of ROK JCS’ strategy and planning bureau; and Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby, Jr., director of the U.S. JCS’s strategy and planning bureau. “The chairmen of the South Korean and U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff will assess an

Dec 7, 2010

Defense minister calls for enhancing combat readiness

By Jung Sung-ki Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin stressed Tuesday that the nation’s military should further enhance its combat readiness, calling for eradicating complacency and bureaucratic practices. Kim made the remarks during a meeting with some 15 top military brass and senior defense officials at the ministry in Seoul. At the beginning of the meeting, President Lee Myung-bak delivered a video message, calling for efforts to build a stronger but more effective military, Jang Kwang-il, deputy minister for policy, told reporters. Lee also asked the military to come up with ways to respond to the North’s low-intensity provocation and asymmetrical warfare tactics, Jang said. “The meeting was held in a more determined and resolute mood than ever,” Jang said. “Minister issued a set of directives on efforts to overcome the current crisis as well as to regain the public trust.” The minister reiterated the military should be a combat-ready armed force. “The minister pointed to three points creating current problems with the military,” the deputy minister noted.

Dec 7, 2010

Defense minister vows to invoke self-defense right

By Jung Sung-ki South Korea will independently invoke the right of self-defense should North Korea launch another attack on its territory, separate from the existing rules of engagement effectively controlled by the U.S.-led United Nations Command (UNC), the defense chief said Monday. The remarks by Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin come as the South Korean Navy launched naval live-fire drills in waters off all three coasts of the Korean Peninsula. But live-fire exercises were not held in waters off the five islands near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the volatile sea border in the West Sea. Minister Kim made the comment in response to the question of whether the South would respond with force against North Korean provocation, regardless of the rules of engagement based on the truce status on the Korean Peninsula. The UNC, led by the commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC), supervises the armistice agreement on the peninsula. The CFC commander has the wartime command authority. “We’ll respond to the North’s preemptive attack by i

Dec 6, 2010

Defense chief warns NK of provocations

By Jung Sung-ki New Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin reaffirmed that his military will conduct immediate and strong counterattacks against any further provocation by North Korea. “If North Korea launches another military attack on our territory and people, we must swiftly and strongly respond with force until they surrender,” Kim said in his inauguration speech at the ministry in Seoul, Saturday. He replaces Kim Tae-young. “The enemy will keep trying to attack our weak spots and plot new forms of provocation. We must make them realize how steep a price it will have to pay for its actions,” he said, citing the March 26 sinking of the warship Cheonan and the Nov. 23 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in the West Sea. “We do not want war, but we must never be afraid of it,” said the new defense chief, recalling that South Korea faces “the worst crisis since the Korean War.” He pledged efforts to maintain combat readiness at the highest alert level. Specifically, he vowed to improve the education of field commanders, eradicate bureaucratic practices and mannerisms in the milit

Dec 5, 2010

Will Marine Corps be reborn as strategic force?

By Jung Sung-ki South Korea’s Marine Corps, nicknamed “Ghost Busters,” has a worldwide reputation for its combat prowess amid successful operations during the Korean War and in Vietnam. Despite such fame the service has been domestically recognized merely as a small force affiliated with the Navy. It has long suffered from a small budget as larger parts of defense spending have been funneled into the Army, Navy and Air Force. Of the 9-trillion-won spending for this year’s arms improvements, the Marine Corps received just 100 billion won, some 1.2 percent of the total. Moreover, its main responsibility has apparently shifted from amphibious assault operations to coastal and facility protection and security services, with the shortage of manpower and planned troop reductions. These problems actually had something to do with the service’s response to North Korea’s unprecedented shelling of a South Korean island near the western sea border last month, defense experts and politicians point out. “The problem is simple. Without modernization of defense equipment,

Dec 5, 2010

Satellite image shows damages in NK artillery site

'15 rounds hit coastal artillery base' By Jung Sung-ki About 15 of the 80 rounds fired from South Korea’s self-propelled howitzers in a counterattack to the North’s Nov. 23 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island hit a North Korean artillery base on the islet of Mudo, causing substantial damage, a lawmaker of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) said Thursday. North Korea fired about 170 rounds from 122mm multiple rocket launchers and coastal artillery guns deployed in the Gaemeori region and on Mudo toward the border island. About 90 of them landed in residential areas as well as a South Korean marine base on the island, killing two South Korean marines and two civilians. The South retaliated with 80 rounds from K9 Thunder howitzers, but the extent of damage in the North had been unclear. “Of the 80 shots, more than 10 rounds were found to have hit an artillery base on Mudo,” Rep. Kwon Young-se, a member of the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee revealed, citing photos taken by the country’s Arirang satellite and the other commercial satellite systems. According

Dec 2, 2010

Seoul plans live-fire drill next week

Allies brace for N. Korean provocation after 4-day exercise By Jung Sung-ki Following the end of the four-day “high-intensity” joint naval exercise by the United States and South Korea in the West Sea, Wednesday, allied forces are bracing for further provocative acts by North Korea. The concern comes as South Korea’s marines are considering holding a live-fire exercise next week. The Nov. 23 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island occurred after the South held such a drill near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto sea border in the West Sea. After the joint exercise, the South Korean military will remain on the highest alert, according to the JCS. Col. Kim Young-cheol at the JCS operations bureau told reporters that military authorities of the South and United States were in consultations to hold more joint naval drills in waters west of the Korean Peninsula, in an effort to deter Pyongyang’s provocative actions. “We have been in consultations with the U.S. to carry out several joint military drills to deal with provocation by the enemy later this month or early next

Dec 1, 2010

Allies hold interdiction drill

Field commanders to be granted greater leeway in counterattacks By Jung Sung-ki South Korean and U.S. naval ships staged a maritime ship interdiction drill Tuesday to prevent the possible transfer of illegal weapons and related materials on the third day of their high-profile exercise off the west coast, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). Fighter jets flew off the deck of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington in joint maneuvers involving about 10 other warships and 7,300 military personnel from the two countries. The four-day drills that started Sunday are in response to North Korea’s deadly shelling of Yeonpyeong Island near the western sea border, killing two marines and two civilians. “We are holding maritime interdiction and air defensive drills as a key part of the third day of exercises,” a JCS spokesman said. “In particular, a search-and-seize exercise is under way to enhance our ability to inspect ships suspected of transporting weapons of mass destruction.” The official said the maritime interdiction drill is based on a scenario that a Nor

Nov 30, 2010

Defense