Category: ROK Military

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.

It is good that the ROK Army is thinking of innovative ways of how to use drones and AI, but I think if this was feasible in combat conditions the Ukrainians would have already tried it:

Once reconnaissance drones transmitted live footage of suspected enemy positions — identifying troops and possible landmines ahead — a column of armored vehicles began advancing toward hostile terrain.

Uncrewed systems moved first. Four-legged robotic platforms and explosive-ordnance disposal robots scanned the ground for hidden threats, while drones hovered overhead maintaining surveillance.

Behind them, an armored vehicle equipped with an artificial intelligence-based remote weapon control system locked onto targets, followed by a Korean Combat Engineer Vehicle clearing a safe passage for advancing forces.

The scene unfolded during the Army’s first live operational drill featuring the Korean Combat Engineer Vehicle, or K-CEV, at the Yangpyeong Integrated Training Ground in Gyeonggi Province on Thursday.

The drill offers a glimpse into how the military envisions future battlefield operations centered on artificial intelligence and staffed-unstaffed teaming.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

The purge in the ROK military continues with these 120 investigators arguably being the equivalent of political commissars ensuring ideological purity within the ROK military:

The Defense Ministry has dismissed 14 generals under its toughest levels of military discipline over the Dec. 3 martial law declaration, as further proceedings remain underway, Seoul’s ministry said Wednesday.

The dismissals follow a six-month investigation by the ministry’s task force, conducted as part of a pangovernmental effort. The task force deployed about 120 personnel to examine 24 military units and institutions and question roughly 860 individuals.

A total of 35 military personnel, all colonels or above, received heavy disciplinary actions. Sanctions ranged from suspension and demotion to dismissal and removal from service.

Of the 14 generals disciplined under the harshest penalties of military law, 12 received the most severe sanction, expulsion, which strips them of military status and reduces their retirement benefits.

The group receiving the toughest punishments included five three-star lieutenant generals, four two-star major generals and three one-star brigadier generals.

Two others, a lieutenant general and a major general, were dismissed from office — the second-highest penalty. The two were removed from their posts and forced into retirement.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It looks like South Korea will soon have a lot of people signing up to become “researchers” in order to get out of their mandatory military service. This sounds more like a way for the rich and privileged to avoid serving in the military:

 President Lee Jae Myung held a meeting with young researchers and science students Thursday and discussed ways to expand alternative military service options as part of a broader reform to the military system.

During the meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae, Lee said his administration was reviewing an overhaul of the military, including measures to substitute mandatory military service for other forms of service.

“As young men are obliged to serve in the military, they unavoidably face career breaks for a considerable period, which can become a source of conflict and lead to a sense of frustration,” he said.

Responding to a student’s suggestion that young men should be given more research opportunities during their service, Lee said the administration was reviewing such measures.

“On top of that, I plan to carry out major changes in the military,” Lee added, stressing he will seek to provide opportunities for young men to acquire expertise in cutting-edge technology and weapons systems during their service rather than wasting it away.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

South Korea’s F-15’s are going to continue to receive needed upgrades:

The Defense Department approved a $2.8 billion, 11-year hybrid contract with Boeing to modify F-15K Slam Eagle fighters for the South Korean air force, the Pentagon announced Friday. The contract calls for “design and development of an integrated suite of aircraft systems” as part of overall modernization of the Slam Eagles, the South Korean variant of the F-15 Eagle fourth-generation fighter.

The U.S. government, which acts as a go-between, paying the contractor and collecting from South Korea, advanced $540 million under the contract as part of the Foreign Military Sales program. Boeing delivered the first of 40 Slam Eagles to Seoul in October 2005. It contracted for another 21 aircraft in April 2008, according to a company news release in April 2012.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link.