Category: ROK Military

This is basically the first step to creating a professional military. Few people are going to agree to be a conscript for 4-5 years no matter how good the job is. This is why the pay is going to have to be significantly higher compared to a conscript to get them to agree to that contract. This essentially means you now have a professional soldier and not a conscript:

President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday stressed the need for Korea to adopt a selective enlistment system to transform the country’s armed forces into a “smart, elite and powerful military” centered on advanced equipment and technology.

The president reaffirmed his long-standing commitment to the revised system, which was one of his election campaign pledges. The proposed system would let individuals choose between serving as active-duty conscripts for 18-21 months or as technology-intensive noncommissioned officers for four or five years — a longer commitment than rank-and-file conscription, offset by incentives such as higher salaries meant to attract volunteers.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I doubt anyone in the media will call out President Lee on this claim, but the only reason he is in office is because the ROK Army would not comply with former President Yoon’s martial law attempt. If the Army had sided with Yoon, Lee would probably be in jail right now. So it seems pretty disingenuous of him to attack the Army leadership now in his attempt to justify combining the military academies:

President Lee Jae Myung said Wednesday the Army academy has been behind all military coups in South Korea, while remaining largely unaccountable, calling for the swift integration of military academies to reduce the risk of another coup.

The president made the remarks while receiving policy briefings from the foreign, unification and defense ministries, as the government seeks to unify the academies of the Army, Navy and Air Force into a single institution.

Lee pointed out that graduates from the Korea Military Academy had been behind all of the country’s military coups, but that the academy had not been held to account so far.

The president, in particular, noted the risk of another coup by Army elites, saying, “Can’t they do it again in the future?”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see if Korea’s first domestically produced fighter jet ends up having an export market:

South Korea on Wednesday officially wrapped up the development of its first homegrown KF-21 fighter jet, more than a decade after launching the project to replace the country’s aging fleet of fighter jets, the state arms procurement agency said.

The event commemorating the completion of the development project for the indigenous fighter jet is set to take place at the headquarters of Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) in Sacheon, some 300 kilometers south of Seoul, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said.

The 8.8 trillion-won (US$6.04 billion) project formally took off in 2015 to replace the Air Force’s aging fleet of U.S.-made F-4 and F-5 jets.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is an interesting idea to centralize the military academies into one university near Korea’s hi-tech educational hub:

The government and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Thursday agreed to swiftly push ahead with the establishment of an integrated military academy of the Army, Navy and Air Force, a move they say would sharply enhance their country’s defense capabilities in the fast-changing environment.

The government and the DP announced during a policy consultation meeting at the National Assembly that the envisioned academy will be established at Jaundae, a compound of military training and education facilities in Daejeon, about 140 kilometers south of Seoul.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

What the U.S. and Australia need to works towards is getting South Korea and Japan to participate in an exercise together in Australia instead of two separate ones running concurrently:

American soldiers and Marines helped kick off the largest Australian army exercise of the year alongside Japanese troops on Friday. Southern Jackaroo is slated to run until July 3 at Townsville Training Ground in the eastern state of Queensland, according to U.S. and Japanese officials. Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, the Alaska-based 11th Airborne Division, the Australian army’s Townsville-based 3rd Brigade and the Japan’s Middle Army are participating, according to the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.

About 300 U.S. Marines are involved in the drill, along with 1,500 Australian troops and 400 from Japan, Capt. Kevin Hicks, a spokesman for the rotational Marines, said by email Friday. The Marines will “conduct offensive and defensive operations, live-fire platoon attacks, small-arms/indirect-fire employment, and a capstone multi-national combined-arms live-fire exercise,” he said. Southern Jackaroo “is the largest Australian Army exercise this year,” he said.

A Jackaroo is an Australian ranch hand. South Korean troops are also in Australia participating in Exercise Tiger Dingo, which runs concurrently with Southern Jackaroo, Hicks said. U.S. forces are training for littoral combat, which means jungle warfare, Australian defense researcher Allan Orr told Stars and Stripes by email Friday. “The only place in Australia that has a jungle environment is North Queensland,” he said of the area that encompasses Townsville.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

I have never heard of something like this before. Who doing too many pushups can land you in the hospital for two weeks?:

A soldier at a front-line military unit in Gangwon Province developed rhabdomyolysis, a severe muscle condition, after a superior allegedly forced him to continue doing push-ups despite repeated requests to stop.

Authorities from the Ministry of National Defense said they are investigating the incident following a formal complaint from the victim’s family, who allege abuse of authority, abuse and assault.

The episode occurred March 9 during a physical training session when a company commander ordered soldiers to complete a run and 100 push-ups. The victim was exercising with a fellow soldier when the offender intervened. At approximately 15 repetitions, the sergeant allegedly pushed on his back, criticized his form and forced him to continue doing push-ups.

The soldier explicitly asked to stop three times, telling his superior, “I’m too exhausted, sergeant,” “I don’t think this is right” and “I don’t think I can do this because I’m exhausted.” The sergeant ignored his requests, forcing the victim to complete nearly 100 repetitions before the soldier began breathing heavily and stopped.

The soldier experienced immediate arm pain and sleep disturbances. He visited the medical unit two days later, where he passed dark urine after receiving an intravenous drip. A blood test at the Armed Forces Pocheon Hospital showed his creatine kinase (CK) level had reached 40,000 U/L. The normal range is 50 to 200 U/L.

At his family’s request, the victim underwent a second test at a civilian university hospital, where his CK level surged to 77,380 U/L. Medical staff diagnosed him with severe rhabdomyolysis alongside symptoms of kidney failure and arrhythmia. He required two weeks of inpatient care and continues outpatient treatment. 

“If they had stopped when he asked them to stop, this would not have happened,” the family said, demanding a thorough investigation and punishment for those responsible. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is definitely quite a long trip by these Korean submariners:

A South Korean Navy submarine has arrived at a port in Canada for joint drills with the Royal Canadian Navy amid Seoul’s push to win a Canadian submarine deal estimated at around 60 trillion won (US$39.6 billion).

The 3,000-ton ROKS Dosan Ahn Chang-ho entered a port at the Canadian naval base in Esquimalt, Victoria, on the country’s southwest coast on Saturday (local time) after traveling some 14,000 kilometers via Guam and Hawaii on the first trans-Pacific voyage ever undertaken by a South Korean submarine, the Navy said.

It marked the first time the submarine had completed such a long voyage. The submarine departed from the naval base in South Korea’s southeastern port of Jinhae on March 25.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The long awaited nuclear submarine project for South Korea is finally moving forward:

The military has initiated the formal process to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, a Navy document showed Wednesday, amid little progress in security talks with the United States over Seoul’s push for the project.

The Navy recently submitted the document to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) outlining the need for the program and specifying requirements, such as desired capabilities, the number of systems needed and projected deployment schedules, according to the document provided to Rep. Kang Dae-sik of the main opposition People Power Party.

The U.S. gave approval for South Korea to build nuclear-powered attack submarines and committed to working with Seoul to advance requirements for the project, including avenues to source fuel, under a joint fact sheet released after a summit of the allies’ leaders.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the ROK is planning to build 4 nuclear submarines that should be complete by the mid-to-late 20230’s.

This is the excuse the ROK appears to be going with on why they can’t help open the Strait of Hormuz:

Should Korea decide to send a mine countermeasure vessel to the Strait of Hormuz, just reaching the area could take three months or longer, military officials said, highlighting the operational challenges facing any potential naval deployment. 

Officials familiar with the matter said that even if a decision is made, the timeline and preparation for getting assets into position would be shaped not only by the challenges of transit, but also by the difficulties of moving vessels through a high-risk environment.

While some have raised the possibility of redirecting the Cheonghae Unit — currently operating in the Gulf of Aden — to the Hormuz mission, the unit is not equipped with the mine-sweeping helicopters needed to safely operate in a mine-threat environment. Deploying a dedicated mine countermeasure vessel or an Aegis destroyer from a Korean port would therefore require a separate deployment process.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but if the ROK wanted to support Trump they would find a way to do it. The easiest way would be to say we can’t provide a countermine ship, but we can redeploy a ship on the anti-piracy mission to link up with U.S. Navy countermine ships to help patrol the Strait.

I have more respect for nations that just say participating in this war is not in their national interest. With UAE announcing that Korea is now their number one priority to export oil to there is no need for Korea to get involved in this.