SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — The defense ministry on Monday eased monthslong restrictions on service members’ vacation and off-installation activities as the military has a high COVID-19 vaccination rate of about 94 percent, officials said. Under the fresh regulations effective on Monday, up to 20 percent of service members can go on vacation at [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will invest around 1.6 trillion won (US$1.38 billion) over the next 10 years to expedite the development of key space technologies after the full lifting of U.S.-imposed restrictions on missile development, the arms procurement agency said Friday. Under the plan, diverse defense projects, such as the development [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will introduce robots to feed military trainees this year. The Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy announced last week that they will introduce robots as a test run this year to minimize the risk of injury and pressure borne by military [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — The government has allowed 1,419 conscientious objectors to perform other public services instead of their mandatory military service since the launch of the alternative service program last year, the military manpower agency said Friday. As of June, 2,173 people had applied for the alternative service, and among 1,423 applicants [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea plans to spend 37.5 billion won (US$32.6 million) next year to purchase domestic drones for the military as part of efforts to help the local industry have stable demand for growth, the defense ministry said Wednesday. The budget is more than sixfold the amount allocated for this [...]
SEOUL, July 14 (Korea Bizwire) — The military called off the already postponed annual training for reserve forces due to explosive spikes in COVID-19 cases, the defense ministry said Wednesday. It is the second straight year that the military canceled the annual training. The training program had never been skipped before since its introduction in [...]
SEOUL, July 12 (Korea Bizwire) — Military blankets, regarded as one of the most essential emergency items in the military, are disappearing from the South Korean Army and the Marine Corps. The Ministry of Defense announced plans to replace military blankets at every Army and Marines unit with commercial ones later this year. The Air [...]
SEOUL, June 30 (Korea Bizwire) — The state human rights watchdog has ruled that ordering military service members to install map applications and turn on GPS functions at all times for quarantine purposes infringes upon their privacy and other fundamental rights. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) announced Tuesday that requiring the use [...]
SEOUL, June 26 (Korea Bizwire) — More than 95 percent of service members aged under 30 have received their first doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine since the vaccination campaign for younger soldiers began earlier this month, the defense ministry said Saturday. A total of 395,677 troops in their 20s, or 95.4 percent of the age [...]
SEOUL, June 22 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea plans to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-based pilots by 2023, a state-run defense development agency said. The AI Pilot Development Program will use deep learning technology featured in Heron, a military drone used by the Israeli armed forces. These AI pilots will be able to assist human pilots [...]