South Korea to Begin Downsizing Their Military

South Korea has released details of their planned military downsizing:

South Korea will shrink its military by 26.5 percent by 2020, from 680,000 troops to 500,000, according to the Korean Ministry of Defense.

The downsizing will be supplemented with high-tech weapons systems concentrated mainly in South Korea’s navy and air force, according to the ministry.

South Korea’s ground forces will shrink from 548,000 to 370,000, a 32.5 percent drop. North Korea’s ground troops are estimated at more than 1 million. South Korea remains confident that its military capabilities will continue to deter any attacks from the North, the ministry stated.

It will be interesting to see if the reduction of ROK Army forces will be done in conjunction with the elimination of the mandatory service requirement by 2020 as well.  I don’t think the current mandatory service requirement is sustainable in the long term as many younger South Korean men are constantly looking for ways to avoid military service.  I think in the future a Korean presidential candidate may be able to run a strong campaign based on eliminating the draft. As they say we will have to wait and see.

I’m willing to bet that their won’t be any permanently stationed US ground combat troops in Korea by 2020 as well.