Most Popular
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Korea enters full election mode
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Lee Jong-sup resigns as envoy to Australia
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Yellow dust engulfs S. Korea, advisory alert issued
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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Kia EV9 wins world car of year
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Korea misses out on global bond index boost
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Seoul faces growing cyber warfare challenges
Seoul faces daunting challenges of countering growing cyber threats that gained fresh attention after Wednesday’s hacking attacks on broadcasters and banks. The government, military and private sector have been beefing up their chiefly passive defense to safeguard the country’s heavily intertwined computer networks from outside intrusions.While probes are under way to determine the latest attackers, officials and experts pinpointed North Korea as the likely suspect in light of past cases and pat
March 21, 2013
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B-52 bombers in Korea show U.S. defense commitment: Pentagon
B-52s participating in the ongoing South Korea-U.S. joint military drills are meant to demonstrate a strong alliance capability in the face of North Korean threats, the Pentagon said Monday."This mission highlights the extended deterrence and conventional capabilities of the B-52 Stratofortress while participating in exercises such as Foal Eagle," Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters.Foal Eagle, an annual joint exercise, began on March 1 for a two-month run. South Korea and the U.S. a
March 19, 2013
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‘Allies ready to deter N. Korean provocations’
Halfway through the around-the-clock Key Resolve drills Friday, 8th U.S. Army Commander Lt. Gen. John D. Johnson remained full of energy as he underscored that the allied forces were ready to cope with North Korean threats.At the exercise headquarters at the Warrior Base, just south of the Demilitarized Zone, Korean and American troops were seamlessly integrated in the annual computer-simulated drills, which Seoul led for the first time in preparation for the transfer of wartime operational cont
March 17, 2013
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‘Sequester won’t affect USFK readiness’
[Herald Interview] WARRIOR BASE, Gyeonggi Province -- The U.S. government’s automatic spending cuts that took effect on March 1 have no impact on the Korea-U.S. alliance’s capability to deter North Korean aggression, a top U.S. commander here told The Korea Herald. “There is no impact on the resources that I have to maintain my combat readiness,” said 8th U.S. Army (EUSA) Commander Lieut. Gen. John D. Johnson in an interview Friday on the sidelines of the allies’ annual Key Resolve command post
March 17, 2013
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New battle simulation center goes into operation for annual drills
A new battle simulation center went into operation to test the combat readiness of South Korean and U.S. forces during their annual drills now in full swing, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday. The JCS unveiled the Joint Warfighting Simulation Center located in Suwon, south of Seoul, as the computer simulated exercise called Key Resolve began on Monday to run through March 21. The construction of the simulation center, which is now equipped with a communications and networking system, will be
March 15, 2013
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N. Korea unlikely to attack South with nukes
With North Korea repeatedly warning of “nuclear retaliatory strikes,” questions have been raised over whether Pyongyang’s threats are credible or simply for deterrence and to up the political ante.Experts largely agreed that although its nuclear arms posed a formidable threat, the communist state was unlikely to consider a preemptive nuclear attack inviting an overwhelming retaliation that would doom the dictatorial regime.But some noted that fledgling leader Kim Jong-un, struggling to project a
March 12, 2013
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Fines to punish stalkers, flashers
The Cabinet approved a bill on Monday that regulates certain inappropriate social behaviors such as stalking and public indecency by fining offenders, officials said.During the meeting presided over by President Park Geun-hye, the Cabinet endorsed an enforcement ordinance that adds 28 acts to the list of misdemeanors punishable in the country. A relevant revised law was passed last year.Under the revision, those caught stalking for the first time will face a fine of 80,000 won ($72.70). Intrudin
March 11, 2013
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Cheong Wa Dae looking into military officials playing golf
The presidential office is looking into reports that dozens of military officials played golf over the weekend despite heightened tensions with North Korea, presidential spokesman Yoon Chang-jung said Monday.“Cheong Wa Dae is paying particular attention to the issue of discipline slackening in public service,” Yoon said. “The office of the senior civil affairs secretary has immediately launched an inquiry to determine what has exactly happened regarding the reports about military golf.”Local new
March 11, 2013
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N.K. cuts off military hotline with South
South Korea and the U.S. kick off their annual 10-day Key Resolve drills on Monday -- the day Pyongyang said it would scrap the armistice agreement and inter-Korean nonaggression pacts.The allied militaries have remained on high alert as Pyongyang could launch provocations near sea and land borders during their regular drills including the one-month Foal Eagle exercise to run until April 30. On Sunday, the North, which denounced the drills as a “rehearsal for a nuclear war of incursion,” warned
March 11, 2013
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Key Resolve drills get under way
South Korea and the U.S. launched their annual Key Resolve drills on Monday as North Korea cut out a telephone hotline at the inter-Korean border village in its latest provocative act.Pyongyang had earlier threatened to scrap the armistice agreement and inter-Korean agreements on nonaggression and denuclearization denouncing the 10-day allied exercise as a “rehearsal for a nuclear war of incursion.” For the first time, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff led the command post exercise in preparation f
March 11, 2013
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S. Korea, U.S. begin drills amid threat
South Korea and the U.S. kick off their annual 10-day Key Resolve drills on Monday ― the day Pyongyang said it would scrap the armistice agreement and inter-Korean nonaggression pacts.The allied militaries have remained on high alert for North Korean provocations near sea and land borders during their regular drills including the one-month Foal Eagle exercise to run until April 30. On Sunday, the North, which denounced the drills as a “rehearsal for a nuclear war of incursion,” warned its troops
March 10, 2013
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Defense minister nominee threatens psywar against N. Korea
North Korea will face psychological warfare by South Korea if the communist country continues with provocations, President Park Geun-hye's defense minister nominee said Thursday.In written answers presented to the National Assembly ahead of his confirmation hearing, Kim Byung-kwan said the South Korean military will "sternly punish the North by employing all means available," including psychological warfare.Kim will undergo a parliamentary confirmation hearing for Park's defense minister on Frid
March 7, 2013
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Hyundai Heavy Industries to build new submarines
Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's largest shipbuilder, was selected to build nine improved versions of Chang Bogo class submarines for the South Korean Navy, the state arms procurement agency said Thursday.The Defense Acquisition and Procurement Agency (DAPA) said it has chosen Hyundai Heavy Industries to build an upgraded version of the 1,200-ton Chang Bogo submarine, in partnership with Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.The new version of the diesel-electric attack submarine will weigh
March 7, 2013
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Anti-submarine torpedoes fail in additional test-firing
The South Korean Navy has additionally test-fired indigenous anti-submarine torpedoes, but found they weren’t suited for combat assignments after a success rate of only about 60 percent, a military source said Wednesday.After the torpedo failed to hit its target in the initial test in July of last year, the Navy fired off eight more in a period of five months since last October. Five of them successfully passed the test, while three went missing.The state-funded Agency for Defense Development cr
March 6, 2013
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S. Korean military warns of strong retaliation for North's provocation
South Korea's military said Wednesday that it will sternly punish North Korea and its leadership if the North moves forward with provocations, responding to the communist country's warning of attacks over an annual drill by Seoul and Washington set to start next week. The warning came one day after the North's military threatened to scrap the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War, citing tensions over South Korean-U.S. joint military exercises and warned a "precise" strike at any time. A t
March 6, 2013
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Around 70% of N.K. missiles target S. Korea
Around 70 percent of the some 1,000 North Korean missiles are designed to strike South Korean targets, a missile expert said Monday, underscoring the communist state’s increasing asymmetric military threats.“Since the late 1990s, North Korea has produced some 100 missiles of various types each year, and I think the North should have more production capacity by now,” he told reporters on condition of anonymity.Seoul presumes that the North has deployed some 1,000 missiles including intermediate-r
March 4, 2013
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Civilian workers at USFK may face sequester layoffs
Most civilian workers at the United States Forces Korea may face a furlough in the coming months as the U.S. government’s automatic spending cuts, including a drastic reduction in defense spending, have taken effect, military officials said Monday. Gen. James Thurman, the USFK commander, sent a letter on Feb. 27 to about 10,000 civilian personnel to notify them that they may be placed on periods of unpaid leave if the automatic spending cuts, the so-called “sequester,” take effect. His letter ca
March 4, 2013
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Integrating Information Warfare into U.S.-ROK Defense Strategy
For 60 years, South Korea’s defense strategy has remained relatively constant — maintaining deterrence and robust defense posture in order to prevent another major outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula. Its three mutually reinforcing strategic pillars — defensive deterrence, the U.S.-ROK (Republic of Korea) alliance and forward active defense — have defined the baseline of South Korea’s national security, the structure of its forces and its operational conduct.However, in the last decade, Sout
March 3, 2013
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Park faces daunting security tasks
The new Seoul government faces a host of daunting security tasks ranging from deterring increasingly emboldened North Korea, to retaking wartime operational control from the U.S. in 2015, to possible challenges to the country’s maritime interests.Atop the security agenda for the Park Geun-hye administration is strengthening military capabilities to deal with Pyongyang’s increasing nuclear and missile threats as well as other weapons of mass destruction, experts said. Despite the military threats
Feb. 28, 2013
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New Pentagon chief vows to strengthen alliance
Chuck Hagel started his work Wednesday as U.S. secretary of defense, pledging to accelerate Washington's renewed focus on the Asia-Pacific region and promote partnerships with other nations on global security."I've always believed that America's role in the world is one that -- and we've had variations of this throughout history -- has been one that should engage the world," Hagel said, addressing Pentagon officials at its building on the outskirts of Washington.The former Republican senator's c
Feb. 28, 2013