Category: ROK Military

For anyone complaining about USFK COVID restrictions just be happy you are not in the ROK Military:

The defense ministry extended the toughest social distancing rules for the military for another two weeks Monday to curb a new wave of the pandemic, restricting service members’ vacations and off-installation activities.

The Level 4 scheme, which was supposed to expire Sunday, will be in place until Aug. 8, in line with the government’s COVID-19 guidance, according to the ministry.

Under the new measures, only 10 percent of members of a unit are allowed to go on vacation at the same time. Off-duty travels, staying out overnight and meetings with visitors are banned in principle.

The ministry also ordered military units to cancel or postpone all private meetings, prohibit nonessential events and travel, and conduct religious services online.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This incident shows how living in close quarters leads to super spreader events:

A total of 247 sailors of the 301-strong Cheonghae unit on an anti-piracy mission in waters off Africa have tested positive for the coronavirus, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday, confirming a widely feared mass infection, seen as the worst in South Korea’s military.

An additional 179 have newly tested positive after 69 were confirmed infected Sunday, the JCS said. 

“Test results on all the 301 crewmembers of the Cheonghae unit showed that 247 tested positive and 50 negative. Samples of four individuals were undecipherable,” the JCS said in a release.

All the service members are expected to return home Tuesday as the government decided to airlift all and sent two KC-330 aerial tankers to Africa on Sunday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

From a strategic perspective it really makes no sense for the ROK to participate in a naval exercise in the Black Sea:

The United States fully respects South Korea’s decision to skip a multinational naval exercise, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday, also adding Seoul’s decision does not affect the South Korea-U.S. alliance in any way.

“It’s a sovereign decision by a nation state. And they’re certainly entitled to make that decision and to speak to that decision and we absolutely respect it,” the spokesman, John Kirby, said in a press briefing.

South Korea earlier said it had been invited to take part in the U.S.-led exercise, Sea Breeze 21, in the Black Sea that involves some 5,000 troops from 32 countries, including NATO members, but that it has decided not to take part.

The multinational exercise got under way this week and is scheduled to end July 10.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but South Korea will be participating in the Talisman Sabre multinational exercise with Australia which makes more sense for them strategically to participate in.

Was is interesting about the ROK participation in the Australian led exercise is that the Japanese are also participants:

South Korea plans to take part in a large-scale naval exercise that the United States and Australia plan to hold next month, the defense ministry said Monday.

The Navy will send a 4,400 ton-class destroyer to the Talisman Sabre exercise set to take place in mid-July in Australian waters. The biennial exercise is the largest bilateral training activity between the U.S. and Australia.

“We’ve decided to join the exercise for the first time this year with a goal to improve our capabilities of conducting combined operations,” ministry spokesperson Boo Seung-chan told a regular press briefing.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but besides the U.S., Australia, and the ROK; Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Japan are also participants, while France, India and Indonesia are observers this year.

South Korea announced that they will put their 2nd helicopter carrier into operation in October of this year:

South Korea’s new 14,500-ton amphibious assault ship will be deployed in October with improved combat capabilities developed with the country’s own technologies, the military said Monday.

Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Boo Suk-jong presided over a commissioning ceremony for the landing platform helicopter (LPH) ship Marado at the southern port of Jinhae ahead of the planned deployment, according to the military. 

Named after the country’s southernmost island, the Marado is South Korea’s second large-scale transport ship following the Dokdo, which was deployed in 2007.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but besides helicopters this carrier can also be used to land Ospreys and F-35’s with vertical launch capabilities.

The ROK is looking at doing something similar to what U.S. politicians wants to do to the U.S. military.:

Defense Minister Suh Wook called Thursday for reforming the military’s judiciary system to reduce commanders’ influence over the investigation and trial process amid intense criticism the Air Force mishandled a sexual abuse case that led to a noncommissioned officer taking her own life.

The minister made the appeal during a parliamentary session, apologizing again for last month’s death of the master sergeant, surnamed Lee, three months after she was groped and suffered other abuse by a colleague of the same rank. 

The incident sparked public outrage following revelations that the military failed to properly protect the victim despite her repeated calls for help while instead trying to persuade her to reach a settlement with the perpetrator in a suspected attempt to cover up the case.

“In order to restore trust in the military’s judiciary system, we need to reduce commanders’ influence in the criminal procedures and carry out reform tasks as planned to guarantee independence and fairness in the investigation and trial process,” the minister said. 

In 2018, the defense ministry rolled out a series of tasks to reform the military’s judiciary system and proposed a law revision the next year. The bill is now pending at the parliament’s legislation and judiciary committee.

The proposed reform measures include transferring appeals cases to the Seoul High Court and appointing civilian legal experts as military judges to prevent commanders’ influence in trials, according to the ministry.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If this guy thought he had any chance of getting away with this, he must realize now that he is likely going to jail with the focus on the ROK military after the suicide of ROK Air Force NCO:

An Army battalion commander has come under investigation for allegedly sexually harassing three junior members of his base, officials said Thursday.

The case was belatedly known to the media amid huge public outrage over the suicide of a sexually abused female Air Force noncommissioned officer.

According to the officials, the lieutenant colonel of an Army base in Gangwon Province is suspected of forcibly having sexual contact with three female officers and making inappropriate comments repeatedly. 

As one of the victims reported the case to her division commander in mid-May, the suspect was relieved of duty, sent to another base and has come under probe by the Army Central Investigation Division, the officials said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The ruling party was trying to siphon male voters away from their conservative opposition by promoting the conscription of women into the ROK military. However, due to the sexual assault and follow on suicide of a female ROK Air Force NCO these efforts have been sidelined for now:

The recent debate on mandatory military service for women has all but disappeared, following the suicide of a female Air Force non-commissioned officer last month after her report of a sexual assault was allegedly covered up. 

Critics say the military’s macho hierarchical culture is to blame for this and other ongoing sex crimes, many of which go unreported. 

The decades-long debate on women’s mandatory service had again been brought up by some presidential hopefuls after the April 7 by-elections, in which the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), which took the mayoral seats of the country’s two biggest cities, Seoul and Busan.

After a large percentage of men in their 20s voted for opposition party candidates seemingly being the most dissatisfied with government policies, the two major parties and their presidential hopefuls jumped into a policy competition to appeal to them. Besides improving service conditions for young men during the mandatory military service, and offering them “rewards” for serving, some came up with the idea of conscripting both men and women.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Fortunately the pilot escaped unharmed:

 An Air Force pilot on Tuesday made an emergency exit from his KF-16 fighter jet during a takeoff run after detecting flames and smoke from the engine, forcing the Air Force to suspend all flights for aircraft inspection, officials said.

The fighter jet was moving on the runway to take off from the 20th Fighter Wing in the western city of Seosan at around 2:31 p.m. when the pilot spotted flames and smoke from the engine and ejected, according to the military.

He sustained no injuries, but the aircraft was damaged and is currently on the strip, it added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The scandal of a ROK Air Force NCO that committed suicide after being sexually harassed/assaulted has led to the ROK Air Force Chief of Staff to step down:

The top leader of the Air Force said Friday that he will step down from his post over the recent suicide of a female officer who reportedly took her own life due to unresolved sexual harassment by a fellow service member.  
   
General Lee Seong-yong, chief of staff of the Air Force, sent a text message to reporters in the afternoon, saying that he “accepts grave responsibility of the recent situation and has decided to step down as of Friday.”  
   
President Moon Jae-in said Friday that he agrees that Lee will have to step down. The resignation will not be processed immediately in order for Lee to be probed as a member of the military. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.