Free Republic

South Korea's defense chief said Monday his military will launch its own anti-proliferation exercise and resume psychological warfare against North Korea, as parts of its initial military measures to punish Pyongyang for a deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship in March. The planned military exercise scheduled to take place in the second half of the year to deter proliferation of North Korean weapons of mass destruction will be the first of its kind by the South's military. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young also said the South would actively participate in a U.S.-led anti-proliferation drill, known as the Proliferation of...

Experts investigating the blast which sank a South Korean warship are checking salvaged metal fragments against a North Korean torpedo which Seoul retrieved seven years ago, a report said Thursday. South Korea has mounted a multinational probe into what caused the explosion which split the 1,200-tonne corvette the Cheonan in two near the disputed border with the North on March 26. "Comparisons are underway to check if metal pieces recovered from the Cheonan are made of material similar to that of a North Korean torpedo," an unidentified military official told Yonhap news agency. The official was quoted as saying the...

South Korea could mount swift and precise attacks on North Korea's nuclear bases should war break out on the peninsula, Seoul's incoming top military officer said Thursday. General Lee Sang-Eui, named as next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Seoul had a list of major targets its forces would strike first should a conflict erupt. Nuclear weaponry would pose the greatest threat, he told a parliamentary confirmation hearing, pledging to "mobilise all means available to precisely and swiftly strike" such bases. New Defence Minister Kim Tae-Young told his own confirmation hearing last week that Seoul knew where the...