Category: ROK Military

This sounds like a complete amateur hour if the accusation is true:

A Korean soldier stationed in the inter-Korean border county of Cheorwon, in Gangwon Province, died of a mysterious gunshot to his head on Tuesday, the latest in a series of fatal incidents there.

The victim, 22, whose name was not released, was returning to his platoon with about 20 soldiers and their commander after working when the bullet hit him. Who fired the bullet and where it came from are unknown.

The incident occurred about 4:10 p.m. The soldier was taken to hospital but died at 5:20 p.m.

The bullet most likely came from a military shooting range within 400 meters of the incident site, media reports said.

But a netizen who claimed to be a family member of the victim said the commander was responsible for the death. The family member, who was with the victim’s body at the Armed Forces Medical Command in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, said the platoon commander led the solders “right across the shooting range while shooting practice was in progress.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link on how the ROK Army has had a series of unusual shooting deaths.

Be thankful you don’t have to shop in a ROK military commissary because according to the below article Korean food manufacturers are known for selling tainted food products to ROK military servicemembers:

A dead lizard was found in a can of candy sold at a commissary on a military base, prompting public outrage against lax food safety regulations.

This latest incident comes amid a growing number of complaints filed over the safety of food sold at military camps, according to data made public by a lawmaker.

In a report filed with Rep. Kim Hack-yong of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party by the Ministry of National Defense Welfare Agency, 89 cases of tainted food were reported from January 2013 to early this month. Kim sits on the National Assembly Defense Committee.

The number of reports has increased over the years with 16 cases reported in 2013, 17 in 2014, 21 in 2015 and 22 in 2016.

Besides the dead lizard, hair, chicken feathers, maggots, ticks, pieces of plastic bags, and nuts and bolts were also found in various packaged food products, the report said.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but authorities will not even publish the names of the companies that sold the tainted products.  It seems that naming these companies would be enough of a threat to their business to ensure that they increase food safety procedures for products going to ROK military commissaries.

Some how I doubt Kim Jong-un was impressed by this South Korean response to his recent missile test over Japan considering one missile did not even work:

South Korea’s military said Friday it has fired two ballistic missiles in a swift response to North Korea’s latest provocation.

The Army shot the Hyunmoo-2 missiles from an eastern site near the inter-Korean border just six minutes after the North’s missile firing from Pyongyang.

One “accurately hit” a simulated target in the East Sea about 250 kilometers away, a Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official told reporters in a background briefing.

It’s the same distance between the training area and the Sunan airfield in Pyongyang, where the missile was fired.

The other, however, fell into water “in the initial stage,” he added. Related authorities are analyzing the reason.

A defense ministry official pointed out the South’s response came while the North’s missile was still flying.

He stressed that the military was able to take such a quick measure as it detected signs of the secretive North preparing to fire the missile in advance. Related information was immediately reported to President Moon Jae-in who ordered the missile training.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

South Korea is interested in fielding the Aegis SM-3 capability, but it seems to me it would make more sense for them to field a land-based Aegis Ashore that could be installed to provide persistent missile defense in the middle of the country:

Seoul needs to deploy U.S. ship-based missile interceptors known as RIM-161 Standard Missile 3s, or SM-3s, to complete its low-altitude air and missile defense system against North Korea, according to an internal report by South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense that was exclusively acquired by the JoongAng Ilbo Monday.

Drafted in August and handed over by Bareun Party Rep. Kim Young-woo, a member on the parliamentary National Defense Committee, the report acknowledges that South Korea’s current low-altitude defense system, also known as the Korea Air and Missile Defense, or KAMD, is unable to intercept some North Korean missiles if they were to fly across the border.

A local government source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the military wrote the report in order to start policy discussions on how Seoul could deploy the SM-3s, which are said to be able to target any North Korean missile fired from a normal angle, filling in a gap left by the country’s current defense systems, mainly comprising the Patriot and Cheongung interceptors that can target an incoming missile up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) high, and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) missile shield, which covers 40 to 150 kilometers in altitude.

An SM-3 has a range of up to 400 kilometers and can travel as far as 700 kilometers away.

The ministry stressed that the defense system would especially come in handy if North Korea carries out an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, as it recently threatened.

Under that scenario, the ministry said it was likely North Korea would blast its warhead-triggered EMP about 60 to 80 kilometers above ground, which can effectively be targeted by an SM-3.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

I doubt Kim Jong-un is very concerned about this when he knows there is almost zero chance the ROK President is willing to execute such a preemptive strike.  This report seems more for domestic consumption to show the ROK public the government is “doing something”:

South Korea’s defense minister is publicly boasting that it will create a new “decapitation unit” called the Spartan 3000 with the express intent of taking out North Korean leadership, The New York Times reports.

The brigade-sized unit of between 2,000 and 4,000 soldiers will be established by year’s end, The Times reported the defense minister, Song Young-moo, as saying, adding that the military was already “retooling” helicopters and transporting planes to be able to penetrate North Korean airspace at night.

It’s out of the ordinary for a senior government leader to publicly say they are working on a plan to assassinate a foreign head of state. But there’s an interesting reason behind it: The South is trying to freak out its northern neighbor and get it to the negotiating table instead of further developing nuclear weapons.

“The best deterrence we can have, next to having our own nukes, is to make Kim Jong Un fear for his life,” retired South Korean Lt. Gen. Shin Won-sik told The Times.  [Business Insider]

You can read more at the link.

The ROK Navy thinks a nuclear powered submarine is a way to counter North Korea’s nuclear threat:

South Korea has started a feasibility review for the building of a nuclear-powered submarine amid North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats, government sources said Sunday.

The Navy has commissioned a private institute to find ways to resolve international restrictions in building a nuclear submarine with the results to come out as early as the end of this year, sources said.

The government and the military are likely to finalize whether to construct a nuclear-powered sub based on the study.

The move comes as North Korea has been advancing its nuclear and missile capability by firing two intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Here is news of a tragic training accident that occurred up in Choerwon:

One Army soldier was killed and six others were injured Friday in an explosion during an artillery firing drill, the military said.

The blast occurred on the shooting range of a front-line Army unit in Cheorwon, some 88 kilometers north of Seoul, at 3:19 p.m., according to an Army officer.

Seven servicemen were rushed to a hospital and one of them, a 27-year-old sergeant first class, died during the transport, the officer said.

“An unidentified explosion took place during the drill, injuring some people,” he said. A probe into the cause of the incident is underway, he added.

Flames erupted from inside one of the 10 K-9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers during the training session, injuring the seven soldiers attending it, according to the officer.  [Yonhap]

So far these are all just allegations, but it seems like the knives are out to make General Park an example of due to the current public backlash against him.  I guess we will see what happens:

A four-star South Korean general and his wife have been accused of treating soldiers like “slaves,” prompting calls for measures to improve conditions for the nation’s conscripts.

Soldiers serving at Gen. Park Chan-ju’s official residence were ordered to remain on-call around the clock and wear electronic bracelets that vibrated whenever family members called on them, the defense ministry said.

They also had to pick up golf balls, take care of gardening, do laundry and chauffeur the couple’s children in a private car, the ministry said, adding it is still investigating other allegations.

Park’s wife also has been accused of treating the soldiers as though she was their commander and subjecting them to verbal and physical abuse.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

SK declares radar designed to locate NK artillery guns for counter-attack to be combat-ready: to be deployed in 2018 https://t.co/nphWLD7vXV

— Noon in Korea (@NoonInKorea) August 6, 2017

The ROK military likely has personnel planning for all kinds of contingencies, but people are living in a fantasy land if they think President Moon is any where near authorizing a preemptive strike on North Korea:

According to a report in South Korea’s Munhwa Ilbo newspaper, which cites an unidentified government official, South Korea’s military is preparing a “surgical strike” scenario that could wipe out North Korean command and missile and nuclear facilities following an order by S.Korea’s President Moon Jae-in. Munhwa adds that the military is to report the scenario to presidential office after completing it as early as August 1.

As the report details, South Korea’s Special Forces are preparing a special strike op which would be launched in response to President Moon Jae-In’s order to remove the North Korean leadership in case of emergency. This operation is taking place in addition to separate preparations currently conducted by the country’s military forces.

Targeted by the surgical strike would be North Korea’s core facilities. As part of the operation, South Korea’s forces would launch Taurus cruise missiles from F-15 fighters, which would be able to strike all key facilities in Pyongyang and can also strike the office of the Chairman of the Labor Party, Kim Jong Eun, at the Pyongyang Labor Party headquarters.  [Zero Hedge]

You can read more at the link.