Category: ROK Military

The South Koreans are signaling back to the Kim regime that they to have advanced missiles that can target all of North Korea:

South Korea has successfully test-launched a new 800-kilometer missile that can reach anywhere in North Korea, defense sources said Thursday.

It could send another strong warning message to North Korea which is continuing its nuclear and missile development prohibited by the international community, they said.

“There was a test firing recently of a Hyunmoo-type ballistic missile with a range of 800km at the Anheung test site of the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) under the wing of the Defense Ministry,” an informed source said. “It’s assessed that it was successful.”

Defense Minister Han Min-koo inspected the test, in which the missile met the key requirements of normal blast, flight and the accuracy of hitting a target, added the source.  [Yonhap]

This is a South Korean-made high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle, which has been undergoing tests in South Korean military units since January. The South Korean version of the U.S. heavy vehicle manufacturer AM General’s Humvee is scheduled to be mass-produced from the latter half of this year. (Photo courtesy of Defense Acquisition Program Administration) (Yonhap)

Here is an article that explains a challenge that all male Korean college students have to deal with, when to do your mandatory service:

Mr. Oh, a 24-year-old college student, wanted to serve his mandatory military service sometime between January and March of 2013. Aware that he would have to return to school upon his completion of duty, he wanted to hit the books straight away, making no time for staying idle.

In Korea’s current draft system, Oh needed to be wise about which month he starts and ends his service. In the best-case scenario, he could return to school right after getting discharged from the military. In the worst-case scenario, he would have to wait for an entire semester.

In the end, it didn’t work out for Oh. The competition was high. Way too many men had the same thoughts as him and the lucky-draw didn’t play out to his advantage.

Oh eventually began in June 2013, one of the least-expected – and most unpopular – month of the entire year.

He was discharged in March 2015, after the spring semester began.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but this is just another example of why I have a lot of respect for the Koreans that complete their mandatory military service.

Oops!:

A Korean navy’s P-3CK, a maritime patrol aircraft, accidentally dropped weapons into the East Sea on Sunday.

The accident happened around 6:10 a.m. during a patrol off the coast of Yangyang county, Gangwon Province, when a co-pilot accidentally pressed the emergency weapons release switch.

“One of the plane’s crew mistakenly touched the emergency weapons release switch instead of a buoy that detects submarine sound waves,” said a navy official. “The weapons were not armed and did not explode.”

The missing weapons include two harpoon missiles, two torpedoes and two depth charges and are worth about 4 billion won ($3.3 million).

The navy has sent a mine sweeper and salvage ship to salvage the weapons if possible. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I am surprised it is that easy to drop live missiles by pressing the wrong switch like this.  You would think there would be some kind of safety mechanism over the switch.

South Korea's Air Force taps 3 female pilots as vice squadron leaders https://t.co/aj4efVZ67w pic.twitter.com/C2OL8aCr37

— NorthKoreaRealTime (@BuckTurgidson79) January 3, 2017

According to the article the ROK has bought these missiles for the explicit purpose of targeting North Korean regime leadership:

South Korea is a step closer to being the first Asian country to deploy air-to-surface missiles with a range of more than 500 kilometers.

The Air Force said Monday some 40 German-made Taurus missiles have arrived in South Korea and are being inspected at the K2 Air Base in Daegu.

Once they pass inspections, the missiles are set to be deployed on F-15K fighter jets within the year.  [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link.

Fortunately no one was killed by whatever caused this explosion in Ulsan:

An explosion at a military base in South Korea’s southeastern city Tuesday injured more than 20 soldiers, authorities said.

The blast of unknown cause took place at around 11:50 a.m. at a training camp for reservists in Ulsan, some 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to the authorities.

The injured soldiers, some of whom were burned, were taken to nearby hospitals. No casualties were reported.

No training took place at the time of the incident, according to authorities. All the injured were soldiers on active duty, mostly in their early 20s.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

I would think the last thing the North Koreans would want to do is create a provocation that would distract attention away from their great enemy Park Geun-hye being impeached and removed from office:

South Korea’s defense chief called on the military Thursday to remain vigilant as North Korea might carry out a provocation amid the ongoing political crisis involving President Park Geun-hye.

On Friday, 300 lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties are set to vote on an impeachment bill against Park. The country has been engulfed by a massive corruption scandal involving Park and her close confidante since late October.

Defense Minister Han Min-koo made the comments during his visit to the 3rd Army headquarters, one of the country’s three field armies in charge of protecting Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul from any military threats by North Korea.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

This photo from LIG Nex1 on Dec. 2, 2016, shows the “Hyungung,” a man-portable anti-tank system that has gone into production. The company said it signed a 32.7 billion-won (US$27.9 million) deal with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration a day before for initial production of the guided rocket system. (Yonhap)

Army appoints first female helicopter pilot instructor https://t.co/jYSkD3k9vu

— Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) December 4, 2016