South Korea and the United States on Tuesday kicked off preliminary military drills in the run-up to revived large-scale military exercises while holding high-level defense talks on the alliance’s deterrence and readiness against North Korean missile and nuclear threats. The crisis management exercises led by South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff are scheduled to be conducted for four days, accord...

South Korea’s president on Monday proposed an “audacious initiative” to provide economic compensation in return for North Korea’s “substantive process for denuclearization.” President Yoon Suk-yeol reiterated the significance and legitimacy of achieving North Korea’s denuclearization in his speech marking Korea’s 77th National Liberation Day on Aug. 15. “Peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Nor...

S. Korea calls for UN support The UN chief also met South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin on Friday afternoon. Park and Guterres discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, global issues such as the war in Ukraine and the upcoming 77th UN General Assembly, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said. During the meeting, Park pointed out that the “international community includi...

South Korea and the United States will discuss how to bolster the alliance’s deterrence and readiness against North Korea at an upcoming high-level defense talk, South Korea’s Defense Ministry announced Friday. South Korea’s Defense Ministry and the US Defense Department will hold the 21st Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) between Aug. 16 and 17 in Seoul with the participation of key d...

Play to your strengths More importantly, Jung said South Korea will become able to independently refurbish and upgrade homegrown fighter jets and jet-mounted weapon systems. The development of KF-21 fighter jets will simultaneously contribute to reinforcing military capabilities and cutting the Air Force’s operation and maintenance costs, he said. The KF-21 program has also paved the way for So...

The South Korean defense minister said Thursday that he braced for the possibility of North Korea conducting local provocations for the foreseeable future, assessing that North Korea has sought to make a pretext of provocations. Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup provided an affirmative response when asked if the statement by Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s powerful sister, could be a ...

North Korea’s ruling party condemned the US House speaker’s recent visit to Taiwan as a “grave threat to regional peace and stability,” pledging to provide unwavering and full support to China’s resolution on the Taiwan issue. The Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea sent a “solidarity letter on the Taiwan issue” to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Tuesday, th...

The US Treasury Department on Monday sanctioned the popular cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash for alleged use by North Korea’s notorious hacker group and other actors to launder ill-gotten cryptocurrencies. The Tornado Cash mixer platform has been exploited by malicious cyber actors to launder more than $7 billion worth of proceeds from cybercrimes since its establishment in 2019, the Treasury D...

North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament has revised and supplemented the space development act while announcing its plan to hold a full-scale meeting in early September in the run-up to its National Foundation Day. The decisions were made at the plenary meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly, held at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang on Sunday. Choe Ryong-hae...

The South Korean and Australian defense chiefs agreed to enhance defense cooperation in a wide range of areas, including the arms industry and military exercises. The two leaders also noted the significance of defense partnerships between like-minded countries in maintaining regional stability. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister R...

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is to meet with ranking South Korean officials Thursday, amid US-China tensions heightened by her trip to Taiwan. Pelosi’s stop in Taiwan sparked backlash and military actions from China. North Korea and Russia also pitched in and launched a blistering criticism of the US, showing a glimpse of the regional security complex that will be compounded by the visit. Sout...

The South Korean and Australian defense chiefs will discuss a wide range of issues including North Korea, Indo-Pacific strategy and defense cooperation in Canberra this week. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup kicked off his first five-day trip to Australia Tuesday at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles. Lee and Marles are set to meet Thursday and...

Reinforcing alliance deterrence, readiness Austin and Lee also discussed how to reinforce the alliance’s deterrence and defense posture to address evolving threats from North Korea. The defense chiefs discussed ways to enhance the viability of the US extended deterrence as the key agenda, the senior official said. Austin and Lee agreed to reactivate the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consu...

The South Korean and US defense chiefs committed to stepping up combined military exercises and restarting strategic dialogue on extended deterrence in September to address North Korea’s escalating threats. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met Friday in Washington and “discussed the major pending issues of the alliance and shared their assessment o...

South Korea’s Navy announced Friday that it will begin deploying women officers aboard submarines starting from 2024 after an eight-year comprehensive review. The Navy gave the green light to the plan for integrating enlisted female sailors to submarine crews at a policy meeting held at the headquarters in the city of Gyeryong, South Chungcheong Province on Thursday, it announced the following d...