Yoon touts defense cooperation between S. Korea, Saudi Arabia

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday the defense industry cooperation between South Korea and Saudi Arabia will play a pivotal role in advancing the two countries' relations in a broad range of fields. Yoon called the oil-rich country a "key partner" for South Korea's economy and energy security during a meeting with Abdullah bin Bandar Al Saud, Saudi minister of the National Guard, at the presidential office. "The defense collaboration between the two countries would no

Nov. 5, 2024

North Korea fires ballistic missiles hours before US Election Day

North Korea on Tuesday fired short-range ballistic missiles into the sea east of the Korean Peninsula, hours before the US goes to the polls to elect its next president. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a brief announcement the missiles were launched at around 7:30 a.m. from a province south of Pyongyang and traveled 400 kilometers before landing in the waters. South Korean and US military and intelligence officials are analyzing details of the launch, including their type and rang

Nov. 5, 2024

US flies long-range bomber in drill with S. Korea, Japan in reaction to the North's missile test

The United States flew a long-range bomber in a trilateral drill with South Korea and Japan on Sunday in response to North Korea’s recent test-firing of a new intercontinental ballistic missile designed to strike the US mainland, South Korea’s military said. North Korea on Thursday tested the newly developed Hwasong-19 ICBM, which flew higher and stayed in the air longer than any other missile it has fired. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called it “an appropriate military acti

Nov. 3, 2024

Korea Herald to co-host forum on impact of Trump’s return through Seoul’s lens

The Korea Herald will co-host a forum on Nov. 13 to unpack the foreign policy, security, economic and trade implications of Donald Trump’s return to the White House for Seoul and the Korea-US alliance, while exploring strategic responses to tackle emerging challenges and seize new opportunities. The timely forum, titled "Alliance after US Election 2024: A Seoul Perspective," will be held at the National Assembly Museum in partnership with the Bipartisan Forum for Advanced Diplo

Nov. 3, 2024

EU's Borrell vows to advance security, defense ties with S. Korea

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Sunday he will discuss ways to advance the EU's security and defense cooperation with South Korea during his visit to Seoul. Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, wrote on social media platform X earlier in the day that he arrived in Seoul to co-chair the first Strategic Dialogue with Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul. "Over the past years, we have become even closer partners making signif

Nov. 3, 2024

S. Korea not considering troop dispatch to Ukraine: nat'l security adviser

National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik said Friday that South Korea is "not considering the dispatch of troops to Ukraine at all," amid reports of North Korea's imminent participation in the war to support Russia. Shin made the remark during a parliamentary audit when lawmakers asked him about the possibility of South Korea sending troops to Ukraine. The adviser, however, noted that he believes the deployment of a South Korean team of observers and analysts to Ukraine is essential

Nov. 1, 2024

Allies say 1953 mutual defense treaty extends to cyber, space threats

South Korea and the United States have, for the first time, explicitly confirmed that cyber and space threats to either country could trigger mutual defense actions under their bilateral treaty signed in 1953, which forms the basis of their military alliance. The commitment was outlined in a joint statement following the South Korea-US '2+2' foreign and defense ministerial meeting held Thursday in Washington, notably amid rising concerns over deepening security cooperation between Russia and Nor

Nov. 1, 2024

S. Korea conducts 1st interagency field training against space debris risks

South Korea on Thursday conducted its first interagency field training exercise aimed at coping with potential hazards from space debris, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The exercise, organized by the JCS, was conducted at the Air Force's 20th Fighter Wing, attended by relevant agencies, including the Korea Aerospace Administration and the National Fire Agency, officials said. Under a scenario of space debris falling on South Korean territory, participating agencies and the military

Oct. 31, 2024

5 days to US election, North Korea fires ICBM with longest flight yet

North Korea fired what could be a new intercontinental ballistic missile toward the sea east of the Korean Peninsula on Thursday, a day after South Korean defense intelligence authorities warned of Pyongyang preparing to stage large-scale provocations in the run-up to the US presidential election. The missile flew for approximately 86 minutes, the longest time of any North Korean missile to date, traveling about 1,000 kilometers before falling into the waters between North Korea and Japan, accor

Oct. 31, 2024

Top security adviser meets Danish parliament delegation

National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik met with a visiting Danish parliament delegation Tuesday, and discussed the bilateral partnership and other issues, including North Korea's troop deployment to Russia, the presidential office said. In the meeting with the delegation, which included Michael Aastrup Jensen, head of the foreign affairs policy committee of the Danish parliament, Shin stressed that South Korea is urging North Korean troops to withdraw from Russia immediately and end its ill

Oct. 29, 2024

S. Korea to use homegrown transmission for K2 tanks

South Korea's defense authorities approved on Monday a plan to build K2 battle tanks with a homegrown transmission system, the state arms procurement agency said. Under the plan endorsed by the Defense Project Promotion Committee, K2 tanks will be equipped with a locally developed power pack, which comprises the transmission and the engine, starting from the fourth batch of production that will be built by 2028, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. "The K2 battl

Oct. 28, 2024

South Korean military warns of countermeasures against North Korean drone threats

South Korea’s military on Monday warned of “corresponding measures” in response to North Korea threatening to fly an uncrewed aerial vehicle over Seoul. “If a North Korean UAV infiltration takes place, we will be taking corresponding measures to protect the safety and property of our people,” Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-jun said. The JCS spokesperson dismissed accusations by North Korea that the UAVs that flew over Pyongyang earlier this month h

Oct. 28, 2024

North Korean troops in Russia, US defense secretary says

ROME -- US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday there is evidence that North Korean troops are in Russia, and it remained to be seen what they would be doing there. "There is evidence that there are DPRK troops in Russia," Austin told reporters in Rome, using North Korea's formal name - the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "What exactly they are doing? Left to be seen. These are things that we need to sort out," Austin added. Ukrainian President Vo

Oct. 23, 2024

[Exclusive] UN Command finds cross-border broadcasts trigger trash balloons: JCS memo

The US-led United Nations Command said South Korea broadcasting anti-Kim Jong-un propaganda through loudspeakers along the border with North Korea have encouraged, rather than deterred, North Korea’s launches of balloons carrying trash toward the South, according to a Seoul Joint Chiefs of Staff memo obtained by The Korea Herald. The anti-Pyongyang broadcasts by South Korea “failed to deter the North Korean trash balloons” and “gave North Korea an excuse for additional la

Oct. 21, 2024

Up to North Korea to prove claims of South Korean military sending drones into Pyongyang: JCS

GYERYONG, South Chungcheong Province -- On North Korea claiming without evidence that South Korean uncrewed aerial vehicles flew over Pyongyang, the South Korean army chief of staff said North Korean attempts to gamble with the stability of the Korean Peninsula “will not be tolerated.” Gen. Park An-su said North Korea was “using the drone claims” to order artillery corps to be prepared to open fire along the border and blow up inter-Korean roads. “The North Korean r

Oct. 17, 2024

Trump called Korea a 'money machine.' This is how Korean media translated it.

After former US President Donald Trump called South Korea a "money machine," Korean news outlets on Wednesday grappled with how to best capture the nuance of his words for the Korean audience through translation. Trump made the remarks during an interview with Bloomberg News at the Economic Club of Chicago while discussing the costs of maintaining US troops in South Korea. "If I were there (in the White House) now, they (South Korea)’d be paying us $10 billion a year. And

Oct. 16, 2024

Defense chief apologizes over 'Silmido' unit for 1st time

Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun apologized Tuesday over the fate of members of a past secret unit that trained commandos to infiltrate into North Korea for the first time since they were killed more than a half century ago. Kim's apology was read on his behalf during a ceremony to mark the beginning of an excavation project to find the yet-recovered remains of four Silmido unit members who were executed and secretly buried in 1972. "May those who were sacrificed during the Silmido inc

Oct. 15, 2024

North Korea’s explosions of inter-Korean roads ‘symbolic move’: JCS

North Korea blew up roads near the border on each side of the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday, in another demonstration of cutting ties with the South. Exploding the inter-Korean roads north of the border on the east and west coats, which had already been dismantled by North Korea, is thought to be a “largely symbolic move,” an official from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters in a closed-door briefing. Tuesday’s move is a “dramatic visualization” o

Oct. 15, 2024

Drones seen in Pyongyang’s footage don’t seem South Korean: ADD

The head of the South Korean government agency for defense research and development said Tuesday the uncrewed aerial vehicles seen in footage released by North Korean state media do not seem to be South Korean. “These UAVs do not seem distinctly South Korean, although there are similar-looking ones among commercial kinds as well as those developed (by the military),” Lt. Gen. Lee Kun-wan, president of the Agency for Defense Development, said in response to questions from lawmakers. &

Oct. 15, 2024

Border tensions heighten as North Korea builds up drone incursion claims

The South Korean military is closely watching developments and making necessary preparations in response to the North Korean military ordering its troops near the border to be prepared to open fire. Col. Lee Sung-jun, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson, told reporters Monday that the South Korean military is “prepared for any actual provocation.” ”The responsibility for current circumstances lies entirely with North Korea, and we strongly warn them to stop wit

Oct. 14, 2024