It looks like if a young Korean person wants to have their college paid for, an ROTC scholarship is a very easy one to receive now:
Cadets of the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) throw their hats in the air during a commencement and commissioning ceremony at the Army Cadet Military School in Goesan, North Chungcheong Province, Feb. 28. Newsis
The ROK military is facing a severe shortage in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) applicants as young people increasingly shun the junior officer position apparently because of pay rates and the long service periods.
According to the Army, the Korean Military Academy will announce an additional recruitment notice for ROTC candidates in August. The decision comes as the application rate for the ROTC program hit a record low this year, with the number of applicants falling short of the number of available spots.
It is the first time the Army will seek additional recruitment processes for cadets since the ROTC system was introduced here in 1961.
ROTC is a college-based officer commissioning program, under which cadets undergo physical and military education for four semesters and then serve for 24 to 36 months in the military after being commissioned.
There were about 16,000 ROTC applicants in 2016, but the figure steadily fell by 2,000 each year to mark 5,000 this year. The competition ratio, which stood at 4.8 to 1 in 2015, plunged to 2.4 to 1 in 2022.
You can read more at the link, but I knew a ROK Air Force lieutenant who told me he went ROTC simply because he could guarantee going into the Air Force and receive better treatment compared to being a conscript. He said the extra time in service was worth the better treatment.
Condolences to the friends and family of the ROK Marine killed this week during flood rescue operations:
Rescue workers carry the body of a marine to an ambulance in Yecheon on July 19, 2023. He went missing earlier in the day after being swept away by a torrent while participating in search and rescue operations in the area. (Yonhap)
Rescue workers on Wednesday found the body of a marine who went missing after being swept away by a torrent in a southeastern county while participating in search and rescue (SAR) operations after heavy monsoon rains and landslides in the area.
The marine corporal, serving with the 1st Marine Infantry Division, disappeared into the Naeseong stream rapids in Yecheon County, North Gyeongsang Province, 161 kilometers southeast of Seoul, at about 9:10 a.m. during SAR operations, ROK Marine Corps officials said.
His body was discovered downstream at around 11:08 p.m.
Since this incident apparently happened on Camp Humphreys back in 2018 it makes me wonder if this was a KATUSA soldier that was slapped?:
South Korean soldiers walk on the grounds of Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Friday, July 7, 2023. (Christopher Green/Stars and Stripes)
A former South Korean army officer cleared of assault charges after slapping a subordinate on a U.S. military base in 2018 must stand trial again after the country’s highest court reversed an appellate court’s ruling.
The officer — identified as a colonel in South Korean media reports — was convicted in a military court of assault for lightly slapping a soldier five to eight times for failing to salute, according to a June 15 decision by the Supreme Court of Korea. The conviction carried a maximum two-year prison term.
The decision sends the case to the Seoul High Court for retrial.
Both soldiers served in the same unit that supported the U.S. armed forces, according to the supreme court decision. The incident occurred at an unspecified base in Pyeongtaek, home of the U.S. Army’s Camp Humphreys and the Air Force’s Osan Air Base.
Names, ranks and other information about the soldiers were redacted in the court filing. Except in extreme cases of “cruel” crimes, South Korean law protects the identity of the accused.
You can read more at the link, but back in the day physical punishment for infractions like this was common which is probably why this Colonel thought it was okay to slap the soldier. I once did combined training with a ROK Army unit and at morning formation a ROK soldier ran to formation a few seconds late and the platoon sergeant slapped him, pushed him to the ground, and kicked him. No one ever showed up late to formation the rest of the exercise.
The ROK Navy recently fielded new submarines that are large enough to house separate living areas for female sailors:
One of the United States’ closest military allies has selected its first group of enlisted women to serve aboard submarines starting next year.
Seven female noncommissioned officers were chosen from more than 20 applicants to undergo training for submarine service, the Ministry of National Defense said in a press release Monday.
Training is expected to last until January or February and is required for all submariners, a South Korean navy spokesman told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday.
Two commissioned naval officers selected last month to serve on a submarine are also undergoing training, the spokesman added.
Here is an update on South Korea’s efforts to create a drone unit that can respond both offensively and defensively against North Korea:
South Korean military drones fly during joint drills with the United States at Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, in this May 23 photo. The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday promulgated a decree for the launch of a multipurpose drone operations unit. AP-Yonhap
The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday promulgated a decree for the launch of a multipurpose drone operations unit as part of efforts to counter North Korea’s evolving air threats and to reinforce the capabilities that have become increasingly critical in modern warfare.
The declaration comes six months after President Yoon Suk Yeol told his military officials to create a command center for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) strategies for both offensive and defensive missions.
The unit, which is expected to be established in September, will take direct orders from Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and take on reconnaissance, strike and other roles. Its presence in the military may well expand as its interoperability with other units improve, officials said.
But the location and leader of the unit have not been determined yet.
You can read more at the link, but according to the article the city of Pocheon just north of Uijeongbu in Gyeongi province is one of the leading sites to base the new drone unit at.
South Korea is expanding naval cooperation with Japan and Australia in an upcoming exercise in the waters off of Guam:
This file photo, released by the South Korean Navy on April 17, 2023, shows three Aegis-equipped destroyers — the South’s Yulgok Yi I (front), the Benfold (C) of the U.S. Navy and the JS Atago of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force — sailing in waters off South Korea’s east coast.
South Korea’s Navy said Sunday it will participate in a U.S.-led multinational maritime exercise in waters off Guam next month to enhance combined operational capabilities.
The Pacific Vanguard exercise is scheduled to take place from July 1-12, involving the naval forces from South Korea, the United States, Australia and Japan.
The Korean Navy will send the 4,400-ton Munmu the Great destroyer to the exercise.
The Russians and Chinese are showing they are unhappy with trilateral security cooperation between the U.S., Japan, and ROK:
Four Chinese and four Russian military planes entered South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) without notice Tuesday, Seoul’s military said, prompting the South Korean Air Force to send its fighter jets to the scene.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that between 11:52 a.m. and 1:49 p.m., the Chinese and Russian aircraft entered the southern and eastern parts of the KADIZ, respectively, and exited it. They did not violate South Korea’s air space, it added.
“Our military identified the Chinese and Russian planes before their entry into the KADIZ and deployed Air Force fighters to conduct tactical steps in preparation against potential accidental situations,” the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.
You would think the landing gear would be a bit more robust to withstand a bird strike:
A collision with an eagle caused a South Korean F-35A Lightning II fighter to crash last year, and talks are underway with the manufacturer over scrapping or repairing the stealth aircraft, the South Korean air force said Tuesday.
An investigation determined the bird struck the F-35A’s landing gear, which failed, forcing the pilot to make an emergency belly landing Jan. 4, 2022, at a South Korean air force base in Seosan, about 50 miles southwest of Seoul, according to an air force email Tuesday.
The pilot exited the plane without serious injuries, according to the air force.
South Korea’s air force and Lockheed Martin, the F-35 manufacturer, assessed the damaged aircraft to determine whether repairs would prove too costly or compromise the fighter’s safe operation.
To be fair South Korea is far from the only country with a vulnerability to drone strikes. Militaries around the world are all struggling to develop defenses against this new technology that is being used heavily on the battlefields in Ukraine:
An incursion of South Korean airspace by North Korean drones exposed Seoul’s lack of preparedness in defending against such threats, and it will likely take years for the military to correct its shortcomings, according to a classified U.S. intelligence assessment of the December incident.
The findings, outlined in a leak of U.S. secrets circulated on the Discord messaging platform and obtained by The Washington Post, spotlight the vulnerable state of South Korea’s air defense as its volatile neighbor’s aggressive development of a nuclear arsenal has Seoul and Washington on edge.
South Korea has prioritized its defenses to confront incoming missiles while investing heavily in growing its air and naval forces, but Seoul’s focus has come at the cost of neglecting other air defense needs, experts said — leaving the country vulnerable to a threat responsible for extensive carnage in Ukraine, Syria and elsewhere.
Just another example of the growing trilateral cooperation between the ROK, Japan, and the U.S.:
The U.S. military has revealed South Korean, U.S. and Japanese submarine commanders jointly boarded an American nuclear ballistic missile submarine for the first time last month, in a sign of bolstering trilateral cooperation against North Korean threats.
On the Pentagon’s Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, it posted a series of photos showing the three officials aboard the USS Maine, an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, in the vicinity of Guam on April 18.
The three were Rear Adm. Lee Su-youl, the commander of the South Korean Navy’s Submarine Force; Rear Adm. Rick Seif, the commander of the U.S.’ Submarine Group 7; and Vice Adm. Tateki Tawara, the commander of Japan’s Fleet Submarine Force.
