South Korea Archives - Defence Monitor

12 Jan

South Korea: Police, military launch joint probe into North Korea’s claim of drone incursion

Seoul, Jan 12 (IANS) South Korean Police and military officials launched a joint investigation on Monday to investigate North Korea's claims of drone incursions across the inter-Korean border. On Saturday, the North's military claimed that South Korea violated the North's sovereignty by sending drones into its territory in September and on January 4, but Seoul's defence ministry denied the claim. The joint team of some 30 police and military officials has started investigating the alleged incursions, according to the National Police Agency's National Office of Investigation. South Korea's military has denied sending the drones or operating the models allegedly found…

21 Oct

South Korea: Ex-President Yoon absent from 2nd martial law trial for 3rd straight session

Seoul, Oct 21 (IANS) Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol did not attend his second trial on martial law-related charges for the third consecutive session on Tuesday. The hearing at the Seoul Central District Court proceeded in his absence, after the bench said conditions had not changed since the previous session, which he also skipped after the detention centre where he is being held determined it would be impossible to bring him in by force. The second trial concerns charges that the former president violated the rights of Cabinet members in the process of declaring martial law in December,…

29 Jul

Biden to host trilateral summit with S.Korean, Japanese leaders in Aug: WH

Washington/Seoul, July 29, US President Joe Biden will host a trilateral summit with his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington on August 18, the White House said. "At the summit (in Camp David), the leaders will celebrate a new chapter in their trilateral relationship as they reaffirm their strong bonds of friendship and the ironclad alliances between the US and Japan, and the US and the Republic of Korea," Yonhap News Agency quoted White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre as saying in a statement on Friday, referring to South Korea by its…

15 Apr

S.Korea, US, Japan agree to hold joint military drills regularly

Seoul, April 15 (IANS) South Korea, the US and Japan have agreed to hold missile defence and anti-submarine exercises regularly to counter growing North Korean threats, Seoul's Defence Ministry said on Saturday. The three nations reached the agreement at a session of the Defence Trilateral Talks (DTT) on Friday, amid tensions caused by Pyongyang's recent weapons tests, including that of what it claims to be a solid-fuel Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday, reports Yonhap News Agency. The first DTT session in three years was yet another indication of tightening security cooperation among the three nations. Since its previous session…

19 Feb

SKorea, US hold joint air drills after NKorea’s ICBM launch

Seoul, Feb 19 (IANS) South Korea and the US staged combined air drills, involving US B-1B strategic bombers, on Sunday, Seoul's military said, as North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile the previous day. During the drills, F-35A stealth fighters and F-15K jets from the South flew together with US F-16 fighters to escort the B-1B aircraft entering the South's air defense identification zone, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). It did not clarify the number of B-1B aircraft deployed here, Yonhap News Agency reported. Earlier in the day, the North confirmed that it fired a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic…

09 Feb

S.Korea indicts 42 people on charges of avoiding mandatory military service

Seoul, Feb 9 (IANS) A total of 42 people in South Korea were indicted on Thursday on charges of intentionally avoiding mandatory military service by posing as epilepsy patients, prosecutors said. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office also indicted five others, including a 47-year-old military broker, for allegedly helping them, reports Yonhap News Agency. The broker is under suspicion of providing tailored advice to his clients on ways to fake symptoms of epilepsy that would eventually disqualify them from their duties between February 2020 and October 2022, they said. The military dodgers allegedly faked various symptoms of epilepsy during hospital visits…

19 Dec

Japan announces big military push (Opinion)

After Germany, Japan becomes the second country to overhaul its military in the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war and increasing Chinese belligerence. It seems as if the war indirectly and the Chinese belligerence in the region directly has forced another country to give up its long-standing stand of being a non-military nation. Pacifist Japan has said it would soon start a once-unthinkable $320 billion military build-up that would arm it with missiles capable of striking China and ready it for a sustained conflict as regional tensions and Russia's Ukraine invasion stoke war fears, globally. Last week, Japan approved a new…

25 May

N.Korea fires 3 ballistic missiles toward East Sea: S.Korean military

Seoul: North Korea fired three ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, just a day after US President Joe Biden wrapped up his Asia trip highlighting America's security commitment to Seoul and Tokyo. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launches from the Sunan area in Pyongyang at around 6 a.m., 6:37 a.m. and 6:42 a.m., respectively, which marked the North's 17th show of force this year, Yonhap news agency reported. "While reinforcing monitoring and vigilance activities, our military, in close cooperation with the United States, is maintaining a full readiness posture," the…