Tag: ROK military

Instead of complaining about how much money the ROK government spent in 2014 to upgrade its defense capabilities maybe the Hankyoreh should instead complain about how the North Koreans are the ones necessitating defense upgrades in the first place:

Last year, South Korea was the world’s largest importer of weapons, a US government report shows, which is an inevitable result of South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s emphasis on providing a military deterrent to North Korea. This prompts the criticism that, ultimately, the only winners of this policy are the world’s arms manufacturers.

On Dec. 26, the New York Times reported that South Korea had signed arms contracts worth US$7.8 billion in 2014 – more than any other country – citing a report by the US Congressional Research Service (CRS).Around US$7 billion of the weapons purchased by South Korea, which include unmanned surveillance aircraft and transport helicopters, are of American manufacture, the newspaper reported.After South Korea, Iraq purchased US$7.3 billion worth of weapons to strengthen its military after the withdrawal of US forces. Brazil was ranked 3rd on the list, purchasing US$6.5 billion of weaponry, including aircraft made in Sweden.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read the rest at the link.

As South Korea begins to establish a more robust space program that will include multiple defense satellites, being able to monitor and defend against threats to those assets as well as providing missile warning is important:

South Korea wants help from the United States as it tries to develop its nascent space-defense program, Defense Ministry officials said Wednesday.

The nation’s space plans aren’t targeting a particular country or threat, ministry officials told Stars and Stripes. However, North Korea’s continuing research on long-range ballistic missiles represents a threat that theoretically could be defeated using space-based technology.

Seoul will be “building up the foundation to carry out space warfare by creating and conducting a high-level U.S.-South Korea defense space development [tabletop exercise] regularly,” according to a recent Defense Ministry statement.

The Defense Ministry and the Pentagon will also share information on space development, a ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

South Korea established its first Space Operations Center in July, when it also announced plans to build a national space surveillance system by 2030. Last week, defense officials said the new space center successfully tracked a falling Russian satellite, with assistance from the U.S. Strategic Command.

The pact with South Korea follows similar actions taken between the U.S. and Japan to bolster cooperation earlier this year. In April, Tokyo and Washington revised 1997 bilateral defense guidelines to include a section on space, calling for the nations to “share information to address emerging threats against space systems.”  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link.

South Korea to develop stealth drones to bomb North Korea’s key military targets https://t.co/FQUh9Dsehg @korea_observer 님이 공유

— The Korea Observer (@koreaobserver) December 6, 2015

South Korean golfer Bae Sang-moon smiles as he prepares to report for military duty in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, on Nov. 17, 2015. All able-bodied South Korean men are required to fulfill military draft, and Bae was charged in February with violating the law for not returning after his overseas travel permit ran out. The court in July refused to extend the permit. (Yonhap)

Members of South Korea’s underwater demolition team (UDT) show martial art moves during a demonstration marking the UDT’s 60th anniversary in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, on Nov. 5, 2015. (Yonhap)

Here is a well produced Youtube video that highlights South Korea’s military that has drawn nearly 700,000 views:

Female soldiers salute the national flag during a ceremony in Seoul on Sept. 4, 2015, to mark 65th anniversary of the establishment of South Korea’s Women’s Army Corps. After the ceremony, they took part in a seminar on how to instill gender equality into military culture. (Yonhap)

I did not realize the ROK military segregated their female servicemembers into their own Women’s Army Corps:

South Korea’s female troops have grown to nearly ten-thousand in number but gender discrimination continues to be a problem.

In a Friday seminar hosted by the Defense Ministry to discuss ways to realize gender equality in the barracks, Kangwon National University Professor Cho Seok-hee called for defusing gender discrimination against female soldiers.

Cho, who was discharged in 2011 after serving as the head of Women’s Army Corps School, cited disadvantages in the commission rate of women. She also said verbal abuse and remarks on one’s appearance still persist in the military.

She proposed scrapping the current guidelines on the use of female military personnel and creating a new department exclusively dealing with female troop personnel affairs and difficulties.

The Women’s Army Corps was founded on September 6, 1950 and celebrates its 65th anniversary on Sunday. The number of troops has grown to some 97-hundred as of July.   [KBS World Radio]

U.S. and ROK forces to hold unscheduled live-fire drills near North Korean border after DMZ ambush HT @ISNJH @140DPRK http://t.co/1ZJ4FYz558

— Andrew NK (@northkoreafront) August 12, 2015

Moon Jae-in (front), chief of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, takes part in a tire drag training exercise with South Korean soldiers at an airborne unit of the Army in Seoul on June 24, 2015, one day ahead of the 65th anniversary of the start of the 1950-53 Korean War. Moon completed his compulsory military service at the unit. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)