Most Popular
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Debate rages over ‘overly fatty’ samgyeopsal
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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40 flights canceled on Jeju Island due to bad weather
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[Weekender] Korean psyche untangled: Musok
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N. Korea slams US, other countries for seeking alternative to UN sanctions monitoring panel
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Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
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Gov't appears to shelve punitive measures against mass walkout by doctors
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[Eye Interview] 'If you live to 100, you might as well be happy,' says 88-year-old bestselling essayist
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From fake prostitution ring to nonexistent robber, prank calls hamper police
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Missing S. Korean traveler in Paris found safe after 2 weeks
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Environment, crimes strain U.S. alliance with Korea, Japan
Environmental degradation, and accidents and crimes involving American troops have long been sources of friction in U.S. alliances with South Korea and Japan.Last year, allegations that U.S. soldiers dumped toxic chemicals such as Agent Orange at their bases in Korea decades ago sparked public furor and prompted calls for an environmental inspection of the installations suspected of contamination. A joint U.S.-South Korean investigation subsequently failed to find toxic substances at levels dang
July 12, 2012
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[Michael Raska] China’s strategy puts U.S. in dilemma on Korean Peninsula
China’s strategic imprint, whether direct or indirect, has been increasingly tied to the security and stability of the Korean Peninsula. With China’s ongoing military transformation and its growing capabilities, however, Beijing will have increasingly greater leverage and options to shape the direction and outcomes of potential crisis scenarios on the Korean Peninsula, on China’s terms.For over a decade, China’s geopolitical and economic rise has given its diplomacy more leverage in managing ten
July 12, 2012
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Sleeker USFK adapts to shifting region
American troops focus on deterring Pyongyang, countering potential threats from ChinaThis is the fourth in the series of articles on America’s refocus on the Asia-Pacific region and the possible impact on its alliances with South Korea and Japan. ― Ed.Combat-oriented Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, is striving to strengthen his troops’ war-fighting capabilities to better deal with North Korea’s continuing browbeating.The battle-experienced general has recently asked Wa
July 11, 2012
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USFK: Cornerstone of peninsular, regional security
Troop number reduced amid changes in security environment, U.S. military strategyAs the cornerstone of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. Forces Korea have undergone adjustments in scale, deployment and strategies in line with changing regional and global security environment for the past 60 years.U.S. troops first entered the Korean Peninsula in September 1945, less than a month after Korea was liberated on Aug. 15 from Japan’s 36-year colonial rule. Their mission was to disa
July 11, 2012
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Environmentalists challenge base relocation in Okinawa
Some residents and environmentalists in Okinawa, Japan, have long argued that the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Camp Schwab in Nago of the same prefecture would endanger the dugong, a marine mammal regarded as vulnerable to extinction.Since the two allies agreed to move the air base to a site near Henoko Bay in 2006, opponents have called on the Tokyo government to cancel the plan, saying that the extensive land reclamation work for the relocation could jeopardize th
July 10, 2012
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U.S.-Japan alliance grows for Asia-Pacific security balance
Japan’s military buildup to play crucial role in countering ChinaThis is the third in the series of articles on America’s refocus on the Asia-Pacific region and the possible impact on its alliances with South Korea and Japan. ― Ed.Japan is more aggressively pushing to become a “normal state” with a full-fledged military as China increasingly flexes its naval might and North Korea tests its patience with missile and nuclear tests.Japan’s increasing assertiveness comes as the U.S. is deepening its
July 8, 2012
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History of U.S.-Japan alliance
The U.S. military first entered Japan to demilitarize and occupy it shortly after the end of World War II in August 1945. America moved its Southwest Pacific Command from Australia to Zama near Tokyo and renamed it the Far East Command. It was then led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur.In 1947, Japan’s postwar constitution, drafted by U.S. officials, was approved by the parliament. Its “pacifist” Article 9 states that the country renounces the use of war, and that any military forces as well as potentia
July 8, 2012
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Bidders for fighter jet project resubmit offers
Foreign defense companies competing for South Korea's a multi-billion dollar project for combat jet acquisition handed in their renewed bids Thursday, officials here said, as the evaluation process is poised to get underway.The F-15 Silent Eagle (SE) by U.S. firm Boeing, the F-35A by another American company Lockheed Martin, and the Eurofighter by Europe-based multinational defense group EADS are
July 5, 2012
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U.S. strategic pivot toward Asia deepens ties with Seoul
This is the second in the series of articles on America’s refocus on the Asia-Pacific region and the possible impact on its alliances with South Korea and Japan. ― Ed.Amid its strategic pivot toward the Asia-Pacific, America’s long-standing alliance with South Korea is expected to deepen to better deal with an increasingly bellicose North Korea and a rising China.Forged during the 1950-53 Korean War, the alliance, which had focused on deterring the North, has evolved into a more multi-faceted,
July 5, 2012
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Budget constraints get in way of pursuing high-tech weapons projects
The U.S. is focusing on securing strategic military assets with radar-evading capability to help offset China’s anti-access/area-denial capabilities.To help neutralize China’s increasingly sophisticated missile capabilities, the U.S. is seeking to introduce stealth warships and more fifth-generation combat aircraft such as the DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer and F-35 combat aircraft.Along with its missile defense program and other advanced military assets, these high-tech weapons are to be inte
July 5, 2012
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U.S. refocusing on Asia-Pacific
China’s ‘anti-access/ area-denial’ capabilities pose threat to U.S., itsallies in Asia-PacificThis is the first in the series of articles on America’s refocus on the Asia-Pacific region and the possible impact on its alliances with South Korea and Japan. ― Ed.After a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. is refocusing on the Asia-Pacific where it faces a rising China ― a potentially destabilizing factor in the regional order it has fostered since the end of World War II.It has mapped o
July 4, 2012
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Korean wartime sex slaves sue Japanese for defamation
A group of South Korean women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II jointly took legal action on Wednesday, denouncing a right-wing Japanese activist’s nationalistic acts and comments regarding a local bronze statue representing Japan’s wartime crimes as defamatory.The House of Sharing, an organization working for the women, said the group of 10 victims filed a defamation complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office against far-right activist No
July 4, 2012
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Seoul sees little chance of bilateral meeting with Pyongyang at ASEAN forum
South Korea sees little chance of holding a bilateral meeting with North Korea on the sidelines of a regional security forum next week in Cambodia, a senior official at Seoul’s foreign ministry said Wednesday. The two-day Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum, set for July 12-13, is the region’s biggest security forum. Among those attending are the countries in the six-party negotiations to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, which involve North and South Korea, th
July 4, 2012
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RIMPAC not targeting N.K., China, U.S. says
WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― As they conduct the world’s largest multinational maritime exercise, the U.S., South Korea and 20 other nations are not taking direct aim at either China or North Korea, a top American Navy officer said Tuesday.“RIMPAC is not focused on any specific geographic area within the Pacific,” Vice Adm. Gerald Beaman, commander of the U.S. Third Fleet, said during a teleconference with Asian reporters. “It’s an opportunity for all of us to come together to really improve inter
July 4, 2012
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AirSea Battle aims to neutralize anti-access capabilities
To tackle anti-access challenges, the U.S. is now fleshing out a new military operational concept ― the “AirSea Battle.” The concept is to conduct integrated aerial and naval operations across all domains such as air, maritime, space and cyberspace to neutralize “anti-access/area denial” capabilities.It is comparable to the successful “AirLand Battle” concept that undergirded America’s war-fighting doctrine to contain the armed forces of the former Soviet-led Warsaw Pact from the 1980s to the 19
July 4, 2012
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New guidance indicates departure from ‘two-war’ strategy
The new U.S. defense guidance puts forward a new war strategy in an apparent departure from its “Two Major Regional Conflicts” concept.The MRC is designed to win two major wars in two different regions ― a strategy that experts say is no longer suitable for the debt-ridden U.S., which is struggling with public fatigue from a decade of costly warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan.The U.S. created the strategy after the end of the Cold War to equip its military with the capability to fight and win two m
July 4, 2012
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Defense Ministry kept silent on initialing information pact with Japan since April,
The Ministry of National Defense’s decision to withhold the fact that the military information sharing agreement with Japan was initiated in April is further fueling the controversy over the South Korean government’s handing of the issue.On Tuesday, the Defense Ministry revealed that a provisional version of the General Security of Military Information Agreement with Japan was initiated by the deputy chief of the international policy bureau Brig. Gen. Shin Kyung-soo and Japanese foreign ministry
July 4, 2012
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S. Korea to halt talks on logistics deal with Japan
South Korea plans to call off discussions on a military logistics accord with Japan, a government source here said Tuesday, as Seoul deals with the aftermath of a controversial attempt to sign a separate military intelligence-sharing deal with Tokyo.The source said relevant government ministries are "building consensus" toward stopping talks on the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA).
July 3, 2012
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Aerobatics team wins first prize in U.K. air show
The Korean Air Force aerobatics team Black Eagles won first prize in the display category of the Waddington International Air Show, the Air Force announced Tuesday.The Black Eagles is the Air Force’s official flight display team that operates the locally developed T-50 trainer jets. The Waddington International Air Show is the largest air show organized by the U.K.’s Royal Air Force, and the first international event the Black Eagles participated in. According to the Air Force, the display compe
July 3, 2012
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Defense Ministry initiated pact with Japan in April
The government belatedly admitted on Tuesday that it signed a provisional military intelligence pact with Japan in April but kept it under wraps for more than two months.Korea postponed its official signing scheduled for Friday amid criticism that the government surreptitiously handled the highly sensitive first-ever defense pact with Tokyo.Earlier on Tuesday the opposition Democratic United Party claimed that the Defense Ministry had already initialized the General Security of Military Informat
July 3, 2012