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South Korea’s newly elected president, Moon Jae-in, has suspended the deployment of an American missile defense system, an apparent concession to China and a significant break with the United States on policy toward North Korea.

Calling it a "very shocking" incident, South Korea's new president on Tuesday demanded an investigation into why his office wasn't told by defense officials about the arrival of several additional launchers for a contentious U.S. missile defense system meant to cope with North Korea's nuclear threat. Before taking office on May 10, Moon Jae-in vowed to review the deployment of a system that has infuriated both North Korea and China, which consider its powerful radar a security threat. Many of Moon's supporters don't want the system, which U.S. President Donald Trump suggested Seoul should pay for. On Tuesday, senior presidential...

South Korea has formally decided to receive some technology support from Israel for the development of an advanced radar system in its KF-X fighter jet program, Seoul's arms procurement agency said Tuesday. The state-run Agency for Defense Development signed a contract with an Israeli defense firm on testing an active electronically scanned array radar being developed by a South Korean company, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. "It's about technology support related to the operation test of a prototype radar, not the development itself," the DAPA said. A model picture of a KF-X fighter jet in a file photo...

"(URGENT) N. Korea flies an unidentified projectile across border with S. Korea: military"

North Korea launched a ballistic missile Sunday morning that flew around 430 miles, a South Korean military official said, in what appears to be the latest missile test in defiance of United Nations sanctions.

China demanded on Tuesday an immediate halt to a controversial US missile shield hours after Washington announced that the defence system was now operational in South Korea. Washington and Seoul agreed to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery deployment in July in the wake of a string of North Korean missile tests. But its deployment has infuriated China, which fears it will weaken its own ballistic missile capabilities and says it upsets the regional security balance.

"North Korea test-fires ballistic missile: ReportChristine WangNorth Korea test-fired a ballistic missile on Saturday in local time, Korean news service Yonhap reported citing South Korea's military. This story is developing. Please check back for further updates.

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Full Title: North Korea threat: Experts paint dark picture of what fallout of pre-emptive strike may look likeForeign policy experts theorized Tuesday about what a pre-emptive military strike against North Korea may look like in the event that pressure from China and deepening isolation does little to stop Pyongyang's rogue regime. The Trump administration--which is holding an emergency meeting Wednesday at the White House-- has said “all options” are on the table, but the White House appears to be losing patience with Pyongyang. Former CIA analyst Bruce Klingner told Newsweek that Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, would likely...

Moon Jae-in, viewed by many as the favorite in South Korea's upcoming special election for president, has an interesting piece of campaign propaganda: A StarCraft map. That's a map for StarCraft: Brood War — the 1998 expansion for StarCraft that just went free (along with the main game). If you can't tell what's going on in this time-lapse video, Moon is spelling out his name with mineral deposits. StarCraft, as is very well known, is something of a national pastime for South Korea, so the appeal Moon is making here is pretty apparent — like a U.S. president filling out...

In fairness to Trump, he heard that directly from China’s president (or so he says). What was he supposed to do, be skeptical of Chinese nationalist propaganda?If you can’t trust Xi Jinping to shoot straight with you about a western-allied country within China’s sphere of influence, who can you trust? In an interview with the Wall Street Journal last week, Trump said Xi told him during a recent summit that “Korea actually used to be a part of China.” The comments sparked outrage in Seoul and became an issue in South Korea’s presidential race, prompting the foreign ministry to...

South Korea has developed a new pre-emptive strike weapon in the face of North Korean threats. The weapon, a tactical ship-to-ground guided missile, will enhance South Korea’s ability to strike North Korea’s critical military facilities in the event of a crisis on the peninsula. South Korea will begin mass-producing the missiles next year, reports the Yonhap News Agency, citing the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the South Korean arms procurement agency. The missiles, which can be fired using either inclined or vertical launch systems, will boost the firepower of the South’s next-generation frigates. The inclined launch units will be used...

President Trump’s comments about moving the USS Carl Vinson toward North Korea in a show of force have sparked confusion and could cause South Korea to "not trust" what Trump says for the remainder of his term, a South Korea presidential candidate said Wednesday. Hong Joon-pyo, the candidate from Park Geun-hye’s party, said Trump’s comments about moving the USS Carl Vinson toward North Korea in a show of force spurred by that rogue nation's nuclear program was important to South Korea’s security, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to a report by South Korea’s primary news outlet, Yonhap, the Pentagon has directed a total of three US aircraft carriers toward the Korean Peninsula, citing a South Korean government source. Yonhap reports that in addition to the CVN-70 Carl Vinson, which is expected to arrive off the South Korean coast on April 25, the CVN-76 Ronald Reagan – currently in home port in Yokosuka, Japan – and the CVN-68 Nimitz carrier group – currently undergoing final pre-deployment assessment, Composite Training Unit Exercise off Oregon – will enter the Sea of Japan next week. According to the senior government...

North Korea attempted to launch a missile on Sunday near Sinpo, on its east coast, but it is believed to have failed, South Korea's military said.

SEOUL, April 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's attempted missile launch on Sunday ended in failure, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

The despot, who did not speak during the annual parade, flaunted prototypes of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), which experts fear could one day be capable of striking mainland America. One of Kim's top officials, Choe Ryong Hae, today vowed North Korea would 'beat down enemies with the power of nuclear justice'. He told the packed-out square: 'If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare.' Submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) were...

US intelligence agencies are finalizing a plan to eliminate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, an anonymous high-level Pentagon source said. One source claims that according to a leaked document, the US plan includes disguising a small building opposite Kim's primary office in the DPRK building. The disguise would turn the smaller building into a "Pizza Hut" selling both normal and poisoned pizzas. According to a South Korean military official, the US will work under South Korean command. US special agents will form a special brigade under South Korean command, which the natives would tailor to meet the area's unique requirements....

South Korea’s first female president, Park Geun-hye was arrested Friday morning in Seoul over bribery allegations which led to her impeachment and removal from office earlier this year. The Daily Caller reports: According to Reuters, Park was arrested after the Seoul Central District Court sided with prosecutors, claiming the 65-year-old former president posed a flight risk and could potentially tamper with evidence involved in the ongoing investigation. Park is accused of colluding with friend and advisor Choi Soon-sil of soliciting donations from Korean businesses, most notably Samsung, to foundations friendly to Park’s legislative agenda in exchange for political favors. The...

The United States has started to deploy attack drones to South Korea, a U.S. military spokesman said on Monday, days after it began to deploy an advanced anti-missile system to counter "continued provocative actions" by isolated North Korea. The drones, Gray Eagle Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) coming to South Korea are part of a broader plan to deploy a company of the attack drones with every division in the U.S. Army, the spokesman said. "The UAS adds significant intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability to U.S. Forces Korea and our ROK partners," United States Forces Korea spokesman Christopher Bush said in...