Category: ROK Military

The Stars & Stripes has a good Q&A on South Korea’s mandatory military service:

Q: Who has to serve in South Korea’s military?

A: All able-bodied South Korean men are required to enlist in the military by age 28. K-pop stars aren’t exempt from service, but they have been granted the ability to defer their enrollment until age 30 for contributions to “enhancing Korea’s international image.” At 30 years old, Jin, whose full name is Kim Seok-jin, is the oldest member of BTS and was running out of time to defer, as officials mulled whether to exempt K-pop stars from service. Just weeks before a December enlistment deadline, Jin rescinded his deferral, setting forth his path to military service.

Men with physical limitations or health concerns are allowed to perform alternative service, such as holding administrative roles in the community. Men with religious concerns — most notably Jehovah’s Witnesses — were previously jailed for refusing compulsory military service. In recent years, however, conscientious objectors have been allowed to take community service roles.

Artists and classical musicians who have won awards for their work are allowed to perform alternative service — which requires teaching and performing — as long as the award is officially recognized by the Defense Ministry. (BTS has not won such an award.) Professional athletes who won international honors are also allowed to do alternative service corresponding with their expertise. Korean adoptees who choose to reinstate their nationality — many of whom don’t speak their native language — are granted an exemption from compulsory service.

Q: How long does South Korea’s military service last?

A: Those who are required to serve in the military must do so for at least 18 months, although the length of service can vary by branch. Conscripts serve for 18 months in the army and the marines, 20 months in the navy, and 21 months in the air force. The first few weeks of service are usually spent at a basic training camp before soldiers are moved to the roles in which they will finish the rest of their enlistment.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Considering South Korea’s technical prowess a ALCM shouldn’t be too hard for them to develop:

South Korea’s arms procurement agency will launch a program to develop a long-range, air-launched cruise missile (ALCM), the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), said, Monday. DAPA said it will spend 190 billion won ($145 million) to produce the nation’s first domestically developed ALCM by 2028, and that it will be mounted on the KF-21 fighter jet, currently under development by Korea.

The ALCM is anticipated to be capable of hitting a target up to 500 kilometers away with pinpoint accuracy, and will become a core asset of the KF-21, DAPA added.

The ALCM is a completely new endeavor for South Korea, due to a lack of technologies involving the safe mounting of missiles on an aircraft and separating them for use. But research from 2019 to 2021 has confirmed the feasibility of the development project, according to DAPA. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is nothing new because both countries have conducted these joint flights before, but still this is not a very neighborly thing to do threatening your neighbors like this:

Two Chinese and six Russian warplanes entered South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) without notice Wednesday, prompting the Air Force to scramble fighters to the scene, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

The planes’ entry into the KADIZ came as South Korea is pushing to strengthen its alliance with the United States amid an intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry, while maintaining its opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The JCS said the warplanes flew across the KADIZ but did not violate South Korea’s territorial air.

At 5:48 a.m., two Chinese H-6 bombers flew into the KADIZ from an area 126 kilometers northwest of Ieo Islet, a submerged rock south of the southern island of Jeju, and they left the KADIZ at 6:13 a.m.

At 6:44 a.m., the bombers reentered the KADIZ from an area northeast of South Korea’s southern port city of Pohang and exited the zone at 7:07 a.m.

Then six Russian aircraft — four TU-95 bombers and two SU-35 fighters — as well as two Chinese H-6 bombers flew into the KADIZ from an area 200 km northeast of the South’s Ulleung Island at 12:18 p.m. and exited the zone at 12:36 p.m.

The two countries appeared to have engaged in a combined air exercise, observers said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is a very cool event that the ROK Air Force is participating in:

The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) will participate in a humanitarian airlift mission of the U.S. Air Force (USAF), the military branch said, Tuesday. 

According to the ROKAF, a C-130 transport aircraft and some 30 pilots and crewmembers of the 15th Special Missions Wing departed earlier in the day for Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, where the U.S. Pacific Air Forces will host Operation Christmas Drop from Dec. 4 to 9. 

Operation Christmas Drop is an annual USAF tradition of packaging and delivering food, supplies, educational materials and toys for delivery to more than 55 remote islands in the South-East Pacific. The ROKAF has participated in the humanitarian mission since last year at the invitation of the USAF. 

“The Korean Air Force will deliver food, medicine and other items necessary for survival to people of more than 10 islands in the Micronesia region,” Air Force Col. Choi Youn-seok said. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This ROK Naval taskforce is getting some good training all across the Pacific to include at Hawaii:

The Republic of Korea navy’s cruise training task group arrived Friday at Pearl Harbor for five days of classes and cultural events for sailors and the South Korean navy’s future leaders.

Among the 460 members of the training group are 164 midshipmen from the Republic of Korea naval academy sailing aboard the ROKS Hansando, a newly built training ship.

Joined by the combat support ship ROKS Daecheong, this is the first training cruise for the Hansando after commissioning last year.

Before arriving in Hawaii the training group made stops in Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. The group’s final port of call in its 110-day voyage will be in Guam before returning home to South Korea.

“It’s a meaningful opportunity where our midshipmen can experience and have an opportunity to learn the Indo-Pacific strategy that the Korean government has put out recently,” said Rear Adm. Kang Dong-goo, commander of the cruise training group.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

South Korea continues to see progress in their development of the KF-21:

The second prototype of South Korea’s homegrown fighter jet, the KF-21 Boramae, made its successful maiden test flight Thursday, the country’s arms agency said.

It took off from the Air Force’s 3rd Flying Training Wing in Sacheon, about 300 kilometers south of Seoul, at 9:49 a.m. and landed without a hitch at 10:24 a.m., according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).

It flew at an average speed of 407 kph during the 35-minute flight near the headquarters of its developer, the Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI), a source said later.

The first prototype of the 4.5th-generation fighter succeeded in its maiden flight on July 19.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Just another sign of warming relations between South Korea and Japan:

A South Korean naval vessel took part in Japan’s international fleet review on Sunday for the first time in seven years amid escalating nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.

South Korea was one of 12 countries, including the United States, Canada and Australia, to take part in the review that took place in Sagami Bay off Kanagawa Prefecture, about 40 kilometers southeast of Tokyo.

Sailors aboard South Korea’s 10,000-ton logistics support ship Soyang saluted toward Japan’s helicopter carrier Izumo carrying Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, as sailors from other participating countries do while passing the carrier.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It takes many years of development and testing to field a missile defense system this is why THAAD as well as the Patriot batteries in South Korea remain so important to the defense of Korea:

South Korea’s Army said Thursday it is pushing to acquire an advanced interception system to defend against evolving missile and artillery threats from North Korea.

It unveiled the plan for the acquisition of the low altitude missile defense-II (LAMD-II) system that is intended to shoot down North Korea’s new ballistic missiles, such as the KN-23 and the KN-24, and its super-large artillery rockets in a report for an annual parliamentary audit.

LAMD-II will be an improved version of the LAMD system that Seoul seeks to develop by 2029.

The Army added that it is also planning for the early development of the Korean Tactical Surface-to-Surface Missile-II (KTSSM-II) as part of efforts to bolster the military’s Kill Chain preemptive strike platform against the nuclear-armed North. It aims to develop the KTSSM-II by 2030, earlier than its initial target year of 2034.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It sounds like BTS is going to have easier mandatory military service than even most KATUSAs have, but at least they are doing their service unlike others who have found ways out of it:

Members of K-pop super group BTS will be able to participate in “national” events for the “public good” even while serving in the military, the defense ministry said Tuesday.

Col. Moon Hong-sik, the ministry’s acting spokesperson, made the remarks a day after Big Hit Music, the band’s agency, said all BTS members will fulfill their military service, starting with the eldest member, Jin.

“Our position is that we will provide an opportunity if they wish to participate when there is a national-level event for the public good or an event designed in light of the national interest,” Moon told a regular press briefing.

He added that such an opportunity can be granted to other service members under current regulations. 

Earlier this month, Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup told a parliamentary audit that BTS members will be able to join even overseas performances during their military service.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Considering how many other celebrities have completed their mandatory military service it is only fair that BTS completes their service obligations as well:

All members of K-pop supergroup BTS will go to the military to fulfill mandatory service, starting with the oldest member Jin, the band’s agency said Monday.

“Jin will revoke his request to delay his conscription at the end of this month and will follow conscription procedures required by the Military Manpower Administration,” Big Hit Music said in a public notice to the local bourse. “Other members will fulfill their military duty in turn according to their individual plans.”

Jin, born in 1992, had his conscription delayed till the end of this year under the Military Service Act revised in 2020.

In South Korea, all able-bodied men are required to serve in the military for about two years. But the current law allows global award-winning athletes and classical musicians recommended by the minister of culture, sports and tourism to do alternative services in their respective fields instead of serving in active military duty.

Bills that would include globally recognized male pop culture artists, like BTS, in the program are still pending at the National Assembly amid a lingering debate over whether the K-pop giant should get exemptions in recognition of its contribution to improving the country’s brand image.

With Monday’s decision, the septet will pause working together as a group for the time being.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but BTS is expected to rejoin as a musical group in 2025 when everyone should have their mandatory military service completed.