Category: ROK Military

Here is a well produced Youtube video that highlights South Korea’s military that has drawn nearly 700,000 views:

South Korea loses Division (-) size element of Soldiers every year to people giving up their citizenship to avoid mandatory ROK military service:

More than 16,000 South Korean men have relinquished their nationality to avoid the mandatory military service in recent years, an opposition lawmaker said Monday.

A total of 4,386 men opted for foreign citizenship in 2014, up from 3,470 men in 2011, said Rep. Jin Sung-joon of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, citing data of the Military Manpower Administration submitted to the National Assembly for an annual audit.

In the first seven months of this year, 2,374 men gave up their nationality to avoid the military service, Jin said.

By nationality, most men became citizens of the United States, followed by Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Jin said.  [Korea Observer]

You can read the rest at the link, but it was an interesting statistic that 10% of Koreans in public service successfully avoided completing their military service obligation.

If any of you ROK Heads living in Korea feel the need to purchase your very own THAAD missile defense system to put in your backyard to protect you from Kim Jong-un’s missiles, it would set you back only $2.5 billion:

Deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on the Korean Peninsula would cost around US$2.5 billion, the Air Force Chief of Staff said on Sept. 22.A propeller from the 1,800-ton top-of-the-line submarine Ahn Jung-geun was also reportedly replaced five years after its introduction because of 151 cracks found on it.Newly appointed Air Force Chief of Staff Jeong Kyeong-doo responded to questions on the cost of THAAD deployment from New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) lawmaker Kim Kwang-jin during a National Assembly National Defense Committee parliamentary audit on Sept. 22 at Air Force headquarters at Gyeryongdae, South Chungcheong Province.“It would be around plus or minus three trillion won (US$2.53 billion), although nothing precise has been given yet,” Jeong said.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read the rest at the link, but I think the ROK Air Force chief is just setting conditions on why the US military should provide the system for the ROK instead of purchasing it out right.

This decision makes me wonder if this technology transfer denial has anything to do with how the ROK military continues to have issues keeping classified information secret?:

South Korea’s plan to receive technology transfers from Lockheed Martin in exchange for purchasing F-35 stealth fighters has partly been scrapped due to rejection by the U.S. government.

New Politics Alliance for Democracy Rep. Ahn Gyu-baek said that the U.S. rejected the export of four technologies, including the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar system, among 25 core technologies that were to have been transferred.

The military had planned to load the AESA radar, which is more capable of detecting targets than existing radars, on South Korean fighter jets.

Minister Chang Myoung-jin of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said at a parliamentary audit on Thursday that the agency is pursuing both domestic development and international cooperation to develop new technologies following the rejection from the United States.

DAPA is said to be seeking to independently develop the AESA radar and infrared search technologies and jointly develop comprehensive technologies for electromagnetic interference equipment with a European corporation.

A DAPA official said although Lockheed didn’t fulfill its contract terms, there is no way to impose sanctions as the U.S. government rejected the deal.   [KBS World Radio]

The new ROK Air Force Chief of Staff is pretty much continuing the ROK military’s stance which of being cautious about the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea:

Newly appointed Air Force Chief of Staff Jeong Kyeong-doo took a cautious stance on the possible deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system in South Korea.

During the parliamentary defense committee’s audit of the Air Force Headquarters on Tuesday, Jeong said that there are pros and cons about deploying the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery.

He made the remarks when ruling Saenuri Party lawmaker Yoo Seung-min asked if he approves the US Forces Korea’s deployment of the THAAD battery.

The Air Force chief of staff said basic conditions should be satisfied to deploy the missile system. He said that the system will be effective only when South Korea and the United States establish an integrated intelligence system, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets to identify and intercept missiles from North Korea immediately.   [KBS World Radio]

You can read the rest at the link.

Here is the latest special warfare unit being established by the ROK military:

The South Korean Army’s Special Warfare Command plans to form a commando unit to destroy North Korean strategic weapons facilities.

The special operations command on Wednesday presented the plan in its report to the parliamentary defense committee.

A military official said that the command is looking to set up a special unit to infiltrate enemy territory and strike its key strategic facilities.

The official said that key strategic facilities refer to facilities for long-range missiles and nuclear weapons, mobile missile launchers and weapons of mass destruction.

The official said that the military made the decision to adapt to modern warfare as the North is bolstering asymmetric warfare capabilities.

The command said it also plans to form its own aviation forces for special operations to enhance infiltration capabilities.   [KBS World Radio]

Gen. Jang Jun-gyu (R), the new Army Chief of Staff, receives a flag of the Army as a symbol of his authority to command from Defense Minister Han Min-koo during an inauguration ceremony at Gyeryongdae, South Korea’s main military compound in the city of Gyeryong, central South Korea, on Sept. 17, 2015. (Yonhap)

A terrible accident involving two ROK Army servicemembers recently happened in Daegu:

One Army sergeant was killed and two recruits were wounded Friday when a hand grenade exploded during a training session in this southern city, military officials said.

The accident took place at 11:13 a.m. at a drill camp of the South Korean Army in Daegu, North Gyeongsang Province, some 300 kilometers southeast of the capital city.

The explosion killed a 27-year-old instructor, Kim. He was rushed to a hospital but was later pronounced dead there at 12:53 p.m.

It also blew off the right hand of a 20-year-old recruit, surnamed Sohn, who was holding the grenade and injured 27-year-old recruit Park, who was waiting for his turn outside the trench, sources said.

The moment the military instructor ordered the trainee to “fling” his grenade, it went off, they added.

The military is investigating the exact cause of the explosion, including the possibility of defects or a mistake in handling the grenade.  [Yonhap]

Female soldiers salute the national flag during a ceremony in Seoul on Sept. 4, 2015, to mark 65th anniversary of the establishment of South Korea’s Women’s Army Corps. After the ceremony, they took part in a seminar on how to instill gender equality into military culture. (Yonhap)

I did not realize the ROK military segregated their female servicemembers into their own Women’s Army Corps:

South Korea’s female troops have grown to nearly ten-thousand in number but gender discrimination continues to be a problem.

In a Friday seminar hosted by the Defense Ministry to discuss ways to realize gender equality in the barracks, Kangwon National University Professor Cho Seok-hee called for defusing gender discrimination against female soldiers.

Cho, who was discharged in 2011 after serving as the head of Women’s Army Corps School, cited disadvantages in the commission rate of women. She also said verbal abuse and remarks on one’s appearance still persist in the military.

She proposed scrapping the current guidelines on the use of female military personnel and creating a new department exclusively dealing with female troop personnel affairs and difficulties.

The Women’s Army Corps was founded on September 6, 1950 and celebrates its 65th anniversary on Sunday. The number of troops has grown to some 97-hundred as of July.   [KBS World Radio]