Category: ROK Military

Here is the latest on the martial law issue in South Korea:

Documents submitted by the defense ministry show the earlier reported proposal from the defense intelligence agency to declare martial law may have been more deliberate than earlier believed, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Friday, apparently implying the military may have actually sought to go ahead with such a plan.

Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said the military maintained and renewed its plans for a martial law every two years, but that the new documents submitted by the ministry showed significant changes and differences from the original plans.

“Usually, the military renews its martial law plans every two years,” the spokesman told a press briefing. “(Cheong Wa Dae) has confirmed the submitted documents are completely different from the existing plans.”

The military documents have been submitted after President Moon Jae-in made a special order for the defense ministry and the military to submit all documents related to the martial law proposal from the Defense Security Command (DSC), which reportedly came in the wake of protest rallies and candlelight vigils in late 2016 that led to the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye on suspicions of corruption.

Kim said the proposal even included plans to inspect and censor news articles.

Also, the DSC suggested the chief of the Army take control of a martial law command, instead of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under conventional military plans.

It also suggested the head of the National Intelligence Service be subject to leadership of the top military commander under its proposed martial law, suggesting military control of the government, as well as the top spy agency.

To the apparent surprise of many, the DSC even stressed a need to arrest and remove then opposition lawmakers who took part in the protest rallies against Park, partly to prevent the parliament from impeaching then-President Park and lifting the martial law, Kim explained.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but remember the martial law plans were updated to prepare for massive riots if President Park was not impeached.  From what I have read these plans were for worst case scenarios.  If massive riots were to happen that the police could not handle and threatened the stability of the government, was the ROK military expected to just stand by and do nothing?

That is why I would not be surprised if this martial law issue is being sensationalized to create an excuse for the Blue House to replace ROK military leadership they feel are not ideologically friendly to their political goals.  Of course this will all be sold as “reforms” and not a purge.

Condolences to the families and friends affected by this tragic helicopter crash:

A Marine Corps helicopter crashed at a military airport in the southeastern city of Pohang on Tuesday, killing five of the six Marines aboard and injuring the other, officials said.

The helicopter was on a test flight in Pohang, some 370 kilometers southeast of Seoul, after repair when it went down from a height of about 10 meters around 4:46 p.m. and caught fire, Marine Corps officials said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Maybe US Defense Secretary Mattis’ recent trip to South Korea was to drop off a copy of the Army’s SHARP manual:  😉

Defense Minister Song Young-moo pledged Wednesday to eradicate the military’s political interference and sexual violence following a series of unsavory incidents that have sapped public confidence and troop morale.

Operatives from the cyber warfare command and the Defense Security Command (DSC) have been accused of having posted online comments in favor of former conservative governments in breach of their duty to maintain political neutrality.

This week, the military also came under fire after a senior Navy officer was put under emergency arrest for allegedly attempting to sexually assault his female subordinate while under the influence of alcohol.

“Recently, things that should never have happened in the military have occurred. These incidents have resulted in a tremendous loss of citizens’ confidence in the military,” the minister said in his opening remarks at an emergency meeting of about 40 top ministry and military officials on discipline.

“I, as the minister, will take measures to ensure that the illegal political interference by the DSC and cyber command will be the last in the history of our armed services. Also, through the efforts, I will try to make organizational, institutional and legal improvements,” he added.

The meeting that Song called to check on “lax discipline” comes amid concerns that the emerging mood for peace with North Korea and the recent suspension of a major South Korea-U.S. military exercise could weaken the allies’ military readiness.

At the meeting, participants focused on the causes of sexual violence and deadly accidents in the military, and measures to prevent them.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

With the joint ROK-US Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise already being cancelled, the ROK military has decided to cancel one of their own internal lead up exercises as well:

South Korea’s military has put off its own simulation-based exercise, scheduled for next week, in order to help maintain the momentum of talks with North Korea, a defense official said Wednesday.

The annual command-post practice, called Taegeuk, was scheduled to begin next Tuesday for a three-day run.

“We have decided to postpone it,” the official said, requesting anonymity. “We will review ways to conduct it at the most appropriate time and in the optimal manner.”

It means this year’s exercise has been postponed indefinitely.

The Taegeuk training, launched in 1995, has been held in May or June every year, led by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

This year would be the first time for the military to delay its opening.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see how reliable the drones will be in the mountains during the winter months if they do move forward with this plan:

The Defense Ministry says it plans to use drones to transport military supplies to mountainous areas.

A South Korean military official says starting this year, the military will begin testing drone transport of common military items like ammunition and first aid equipment.

Drones are far cheaper and can reach difficult or denied areas.

If the testing works out, all branches of the military would eventually adopt drone transport technology and the military would aim to commercialize it within five years.     [KBS World Radio]

Condolences to the families of the two ROK pilots killed in this tragic crash:

An Air Force jet crashed into a mountain in Chilgok, North Gyeongsang Province, 216 kilometers southeast of Seoul, Thursday, killing two pilots, the Air Force said.

The military initially said both ejected from the jet safely. No civilian damage was reported. The crash site is close to a golf course.

The crashed jet was an F-15K that was returning to an Air Force base in Daegu after an airstrike exercise. The crash happened at 2:47 p.m.  [Korea Times]

Considering that the two pilots did not eject whatever happened, happened extremely fast before they could react and eject.  Yonhap News has identified the two pilots as  Capt. Choi, aged 29, and 1st Lt. Park, 27.  Fortunately no civilians were killed on the ground.

Another example of a concession made to North Korea without the Kim regime even asking:

The military is toning down a handover ceremony for a batch of new F-35A state-of-the-art fighters from the U.S. as an inter-Korean summit looms. The jets, which cost W7.3 trillion, are intended to counter the nuclear and missile threat from North Korea (US$1=W1,067).

The event will be held at the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, Texas on March 28. Air Force Chief of Staff Lee Wang-keun and Jeon Jei-guk, the chief of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, both abruptly canceled plans to attend.

“Neither can attend the ceremony,” a military spokesman said. “Lee must stay in the country to maintain military preparedness while [President Moon Jae-in] is on an overseas trip, and Jeon will accompany the president.”  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but you would at least think the ROK government would be honest and just say no one is attending in order to not upset North Korea instead of the cover story they are using.

By the way Seoul has bought 40 of the F-35A’s at a cost of 120 billion won a piece.

So does this mean that the US Fires Brigade will no longer be needed?:

South Korea plans to set up a new guided missile unit that can take down North Korea‘s long-range artillery sites.

Local broadcaster KBS reported that the South Korean army will combine its first and third military headquarters to launch a new ground operation command in October.

Under the new command, an artillery force will be established and armed with tactical ground-to-ground guided missiles that are capable of striking large targets within a short period of time.

A single launch pad can fire four missiles in a matter of seconds, with the rockets capable of traveling more than 93 miles.

Equipped with a precision guidance function, the missiles are said to be ideal for targeting North Korea’s long-range artillery concentrated along the military demarcation line.

Experts say the artillery brigade will also be able to curb enemy threats at an early stage and thermobaric weapons attached onto the warheads could potentially incinerate everything inside a targeted mineshaft. [UPI]

You can read more at the link.

It is stressful enough that Korean men have to do mandatory military service, but now they may have to continue to have a travel ban in place just to appease small business owners that profit from the travel ban:

The South Korean military is reconsidering its initial plan to completely lift the travel ban for soldiers following opposition to the move from representatives from military-heavy regions.

According to the ministry, Vice Minister Suh Choo-suk held a meeting on Wednesday with the mayors or county governors from the inter-Korean border areas and agreed to come up with an “improvement scheme” regarding the plan to abolish the restriction on the areas soldiers can visit during their leave.

The ministry plans to announce a revised plan within the year, considering various factors, including military readiness, military personnel’s basic human rights and economic impacts on the border regions.

Last month, the military accepted a proposal from an internal reform committee to lift the restrictions to guarantee soldiers their human rights. However, the governments and small business owners in the border regions have protested the measure, saying it will negatively affect the regional economies.   [KBS Global]

We had an interesting post in the Open Thread about the mandatory service military obligation for dual US-ROK male citizens.  This posting from Ask A Korean highlights what the issue is about:

The unintended consequence of the 2010 law that, all of a sudden, it created a large number of Korean dual citizenship holders who did not even know that they were dual citizens. If you are a draft-eligible age, and you realized only recently that you were in fact a dual citizen, you cannot even renounce your Korean citizenship because of the 2005 law. The result:  we have a messed up situation in which diaspora Koreans, who may have never visited Korea and not speak a lick of Korean, may be draft eligible for Korean military. He can enter Korea freely, but may get stopped at the airport on his way out of Korea, like all other draft-eligible male Korean citizens.  [Ask A Korean]

Someone who is a dual citizen definitely faces the possibility of getting detained at the airport in South Korea because they have not done their mandatory military service.  I had to go deep into the ROK Drop archives to find this, but there have been examples of dual US-ROK citizens being detained at the airport in Korea despite being enlisted in the US military:

The Defense Ministry and the Military Manpower Administration may have to wait for years before they can get their hands on two Koreans who violated the military service law by enlisting in the U.S. Army.

The two Koreans aged 21 and 22 who have U.S. citizenship and residence respectively but retain their Korean nationality volunteered for the U.S. Army without performing their mandatory military service here, the MMA said Friday. Both were supposed to join the Korean armed forces in 2004 but both enlisted with U.S, forces instead. One instead went with them to Germany and both are now ironically with the U.S. Forces Korea as privates first class.  (…)

The first came to Korea on leave last June, and the travel ban stopped him from returning to his unit in Germany. He was indicted here the same month but the indictment was suspended because he serves in the U.S. military. He then transferred to the USFK. The MMA says it will make both of them serve in the Korean forces as well. Article 71 of the Military Service Law says those with dual nationality who violate the law must perform their military duties in Korea before they turn 35.

This dual citizenship issue should definitely be a concern for anyone with male children that may be considered dual citizens.  However, there is a way to renounce ROK citizenship at age 18 to ensure that the male child is not detained at the airport to do their mandatory military service in South Korea.  Here is the information posted on the US Embassy website for the Republic of Korea on this issue:

All malecitizens of the Republic of Korea (ROK), including dual nationals, have military service responsibilities in accordance with the Korean Constitution and the Military Service Law.