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Seoul, South Korea (CNN)South Korea plans to start building its first aircraft carrier next year, and acquire fighter jets to operate on it, the country's Defense Ministry has announced. Last year, South Korea hinted at its interest in an aircraft carrier, saying it would build a "multi-purpose large transport vessel." But in its national plan for 2021-2025, published this week, the government for the first time explicitly committed to building the billion-dollar equipment. "The 30,000-ton level aircraft carrier can transport military forces, equipment and materials and can operate fighter jets that are capable of vertical take-off and landing," said...

South Korea's defense ministry said Tuesday it expects to hold joint naval exercises with the United States in July, though an exact date and location of the planned drills have yet to be set. Defense ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae told reporters the two sides are still working on the details of the joint drills, which were originally scheduled for last month to deter any further North Korean provocations in the wake of Pyongyang's deadly sinking of a Seoul warship in March.Still, the date, location and methods have not been decided, but I think it's right to say the South Korea-U.S....

South Korea fired artillery and dropped bombs in military exercises off the west coast of the divided Korean peninsula today, with tensions running high in the area after an alleged North Korean submarine torpedo attack on a southern warship. The drills aim to help the military detect incursions by the north's submarines, follow the findings of an international investigation into the sinking of the Cheonan on 26 March in which 46 sailors died. The navy said 10 vessels including a destroyer fired guns and launched anti-submarine bombs south of the capital, Seoul, in a one-day exercise. The exercises were conducted...

The South Korean Navy fired warning shots Saturday night after two North Korean patrol boats crossed into South Korean waters, state media said. The two North Korean patrol boats separately crossed a maritime border in the Yellow Sea. One retreated after receiving a warning communication from the South Korean Navy, and the other retreated after two rounds of warning shots were fired, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff told the state-run Yonhap news agency. Tensions between the two nations have run high since the mysterious sinking of a South Korean warship in the border area on March 26. Fifty-eight men escaped...

The military will draw up a new operational plan for the Yellow Sea after its existing one was leaked in the wake of the sinking of a naval vessel late last month. A military official said yesterday that the Navy cannot conduct missions with the existing plan because it and other military secrets have been leaked to North Korea since the sinking. “We have re-designated the operational zone of naval patrol ships to cope with the North’s coastal artillery since last year’s (inter-Korean) naval clash,” the official said. “In particular, we find it inevitable to review the operation of monitoring...

The tattered stern of a South Korean naval warship that mysteriously exploded and sank near the western sea border with North Korea arrived in its home port Saturday for investigation. A giant barge carrying the wreckage weighing some 500 tons was towed into the 2nd Navy Fleet Command in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers southwest of Seoul shortly after 7 p.m. A multinational team of investigators, including those from the United States and Australia, waited on shore for the arrival of the stern. Officials said missiles and other weapons on aboard will be removed Sunday before a probe begins in earnest. The...

Salvage crews have raised the stern or rear portion of a South Korean Navy ship that mysteriously sunk in the Yellow Sea on March 26th. The bodies of 36 crew members were also recovered. Initial reports suggested a North Korean torpedo may have been responsible. But just as tensions between the two rivals were escalating, the cause of the incident became murkier. What is clear is some sort of explosion caused the Cheonan to split in two and then sink. Many of the crew members were rescued by South Korean ships that rushed to the scene, but at least 44...

Top South Korean officials moved inexorably Friday toward blaming North Korea for the sinking of a Navy ship three weeks ago, in a case in which many see the government's integrity and judgment in the balance. While South Korea’s defense minister warned of “a grave national security issue,” the government clearly hoped to avoid an escalating crisis that might jeopardize economic success as well as the ability of President Lee Myung-bak to govern effectively. The government “keeps saying there will be a firm response,” says Han Sung-joo, a former foreign minister and ambassador to the United States, “but that doesn’t...

An "external explosion" is likely to have caused a South Korean naval ship to sink near the sea border with North Korea, a chief investigator said Friday after experts examined the ship's wreckage retrieved a day earlier. "Rather than an internal explosion, the possibility of an external explosion is very high," said Yoon Duk-yong, co-head of the state investigation team looking into the March 26 sinking of the 1,200-ton patrol ship Cheonan. "But for a final conclusion, it is necessary to make a detailed analysis while leaving all possibilities open." Yoon, a renowned scientist named to lead the investigation along...

Defense Ministry Says No North Korean Submarine Detected large flock of birds or a North Korean midget submarine? That is one of the questions surrounding the inexplicable sinking of the ROK Navy's patrol ship, the 1,200-ton Cheonan, off Baengnyeong Island in the West Sea (Yellow Sea) last Friday night. As things stand now, just an hour after an explosion on the Cheonan broke it into two before it sank, its sister frigate Sokcho fired 130 rounds from its 76mm main canon. This took place at 10:57 p.m. The Navy and the Defense Ministry maintained that the shooting took place as...

President Lee Myung-bak said Thursday that the ongoing investigation into the cause of a South Korean naval ship sinking is not just a domestic issue but is also related to Seoul's international credibility. "As it is a very sensitive and important question, (the government) will find the cause through a thorough and scientific investigation," Lee said at the start of a weekly emergency economic meeting at his office, Cheong Wa Dae, according to his spokesman Park Sun-kyoo. Despite the naval tragedy, Lee said the government should not be distracted from its duties in other areas. "That is why we are...

Defense Minister Kim Tae-young on Monday suggested that the 1,200-ton corvette Cheonan may have hit an old North Korean mine before it sank in waters near the de-facto maritime border in the West Sea on Friday night. "Neither the government nor the Defense Ministry has said that there is no possibility of North Korean involvement," Kim told the National Assembly's Defense Committee. "We need to reach a conclusion after looking at all possibilities." Kim said one of them is that an old North Korean sea mine drifted into the area. "North Korea brought in about 4,000 sea mines from the...

Military authorities on Tuesday revealed video footage showing the moment the Navy corvette Cheonan sank in the West Sea last Friday. The one-minute-20-second clip was filmed by a marine stationed on nearby Baeknyeong Island using a thermal observation device. This makes it possible to observe objects at night by detecting temperature differences. The clip shows the moment the bow of the Cheonan started to sink with the stern already broken off three minutes after an explosion broke the ship in two on March 26 and a naval fleet of high-speed boats approached the sinking ship at 9:56 p.m. In the...

A mysterious blast that tore a South Korean warship in half might have been caused by a mine dating back to the 1950-53 Korean War, Seoul’s defence minister said Monday. Forty-six sailors are missing after the Cheonan, a 1,200-tonne corvette, sank in the Yellow Sea Friday night near the tense disputed border with North Korea, in one of the country’s worst sea disasters. The area was the scene of deadly naval clashes in 1999 and 2002, and of a firefight last November. But Seoul officials say there is no evidence so far Pyongyang attacked the Cheonan. Defence Minister Kim Tae-Young...

The sinking of the naval patrol ship Cheonan could forever remain a mystery because of the difficulty in proving the cause, experts say. The Cheonan reportedly entered waters 1.8 kilometers southwest of Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea in following an emergency route to evade high waves and rough seas on the day of the accident. Government sources and military officials said the exact cause of the sinking will be disclosed only after a close inspection of the Cheonan’s stern is conducted. Yet chances are high that the vessel sank because of an explosion caused by a mine. Even if...

The government has yet to present a clear-cut explanation on how the naval patrol boat Cheonan sank Friday evening or countermeasures. Worse, surviving crew members have given differing statements about the incident, fueling suspicion over the disaster. 1. Vessel split into two? External attack suspected Until soon after the accident, an explosion of unknown cause reportedly created a hole in the bottom of the Cheonan’s hull. The vessel sank three hours later at 12:30 a.m. Saturday. Cheonan Captain Choi Won-il told a briefing for the families of the 46 crew members who went missing Saturday, “One second after the explosion,...

Experts speculate on largely three possible causes for the explosion of the 1,200-ton patrol ship Cheonan on Friday -- an explosion within the ship due to internal defects or malfunctioning, accidental collision with a reef or other objects, or an attack from an outside force. The possibility of an internal cause such as an explosion of parts near the rear bottom of the vessel where the explosion ripped a hole appears to be very low, according to an expert. "Personally, I think the possibility of an internal defect or malfunctioning is very low," Kim Tae-woo, vice president of Korea Institute...

Sea mines might have caused the tragic sinking of a South Korean naval ship, U.S. experts said Saturday, dismissing concerns over possible North Korean involvement. "I doubt that North Korea was involved in the incident," John Feffer, co-director of the Foreign Policy in Focus program at the Institute for Policy Studies, said. "It didn't seem to involve any artillery fire from the North." The 1,200-ton "Cheonan" sank Friday night (Seoul time) after a mysterious explosion that South Korean witnesses and military officials say split the vessel in two. Only 58 of the 104 crew aboard were rescued. The others are...

South Korea's navy will deploy eight more advanced maritime patrol aircraft this year to guard against any military threats from North Korea or elsewhere, the navy said on Monday. The first of eight refurbished P-3CK aircraft from the United States will be delivered to a naval unit on Tuesday, a navy statement said. The countries' disputed Yellow Sea border has been tense since a firefight last November left a North Korean patrol boat in flames. In late January the North fired some 370 shells into the sea near the borderline. Last week it announced new naval firing zones off its...

The North Korean military on Thursday accused South Korean warships of trespassing near the North’s west coast, a reminder to its neighbors that it can raise tensions even as its government reaches out for talks with the United States and South Korea. The Defense Ministry in Seoul called the North Korean claim “preposterous.” But the North Korean military made clear its stance. “The reckless military provocations by warships of the South Korean Navy have created such a serious situation that a naval clash may break out between the two sides in these waters,” the North’s state-run news agency said. Its...