Tag: ROK military

A cut of 118,000 servicemembers is going to be quite a reduction in the size of the ROK military by 2022:

Concerns are being raised over possible regional economic crises in cities near the inter-Korean border as they are seeing a considerable population outflow with military units in the region having been or set to be withdrawn or unified in the near future. This is in line with the country’s overall Defense Reform 2.0 troop drawdown plan.

Under the five-year plan announced by President Moon Jae-in last July, the military is seeking to be smaller but “smarter” to counter the demographic cliff the country is facing. The combined number of troops in the ROK Armed Forces ― the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines ― is currently 618,000 but the government is planning to cut this by 118,000 by 2022. 

Out of the eight corps currently being operated by the Republic of Korea Army, two ― VI Corps in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province and VII Corps in Yangyang, Gangwon Province ― will be disbanded, while the number of Army divisions will also see a reduction from 39 to 33, according to military sources. 

Korea Times

You can read the rest at the link, but the governments of the cities near the DMZ are concerned about the loss of population from the troop cuts and how it will effect regional economies. The governments are planning to turn towards DMZ eco-tourism to fill the economic gap the cuts in troops is going to cause.

In my opinion virtual training is useful, but cannot replace actually firing real weapons and training in a real environment:

Technology plays an integral part in modern warfare, and its role is even more important for countries like South Korea, which faces constant threats from North Korea. 
In line with changing battlefield dynamics, the South Korean military has been pushing for ways to train soldiers in simulated environments using the latest technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).
The Korea Military Academy has joined hands with local companies to develop VR and AR training programs for its Army cadets, which will be available on its Seoul campus later this year.
Experts say one of the key advantages of VR is the ability to immerse users in a virtual, yet safe, world, reducing costs and risks associated with battlefield training.
“Training soldiers using VR and AR content can save on the considerable budget for large-scale training and reduce risks from dangerous environments,” Kim Tae-kyu, a game professor at Kwangwoon University in Seoul, said. “It will be more beneficial when combined with real battlefield experiences.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I guess besides people becoming Jehovah’s Witnesses they can now eat their way out of their mandatory military service:

A man accused of putting on weight by eating fried chicken to avoid mandatory military service was acquitted of breaking the law on conscription, Incheon District Court said Sunday.

The 22-year-old college student reportedly underwent a physical examination for military service in August 2016. The test showed that the man, who weighed 106 kilograms and was 169.6 centimeters tall at the time, had Body Mass Index of 36.8. 

People with BMI of 33 and higher can be exempted from full-time military service and work as a public service worker. 

The prosecutors indicted the man for violating the military service law, arguing that he deliberately gained weight by eating fried chicken and drinking alcohol ahead of the physical exam to avoid the conscription. They also accused the man of stooping when getting his height measured so as to increase his BMI. 

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Fortunately no one was killed from this accidental firing of a Cheolmae-2 missile which is South Korea’s equivalent of a Patriot missile:

The inadvertent launch of an anti-aircraft missile at a military base in Chuncheon, Gangwon, on Monday was the result of maintenance accident, the South Korean Air Force said on Thursday.

After it was launched from a vehicle during a routine maintenance check, the Cheongung medium-range surface-to-air (SAM) missile exploded mid-air at around 10:38 p.m. on Monday. There were no casualties, nor was there property damage, but the accident spurred an investigation by the Air Force.

Following an on-site inspection and testimonies from witnesses, investigators concluded that the launch was unintentionally triggered by human error during a routine maintenance check. 

“During regular check-ups, mechanics are supposed to disconnect a cable plugged into the missile used in real operations and plug in a testing cable, but the communication between the mechanics was unclear and the check-up was performed without disconnecting the operational cable,” said an Air Force spokesman. “This caused the test launch signal transmitted by the mechanics’ laptop to trigger a launch, and the missile exploded mid-air around 3.5 seconds after launch due to its automatic self-destruction system.”

The missile is equipped with a mechanism that causes it to explode in the event of guidance system failures after launch, according to the Air Force’s briefing on the accident on Monday. 

Also known as the Cheolmae-2, the Cheongung SAM system was developed by the domestic arms producer Agency for Defense Development (ADD) based on the Russian 50R6 Vityaz and S-400 Triumf systems. Each missile costs around 1.5 billion won ($1.3 million) to produce, and a total budget of 1.2 trillion won has been allocated toward the project as a whole. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

After a South Korean court allowed conscientious objectors to not serve in the military and instead work at prison facilities to fulfill their mandatory service obligation. This has caused concern that people would lie about being a conscientious objector which has caused investigations of people’s video game habits:

Previously, people evading military services were sentenced to 18 months in jail. Those people are referred to by the public as conscientious objectors. 
The top court’s decision, which sparked an outrage among South Korean men, especially those who are fit for conscription, was followed by another question: How can a person’s conscience be judged?
As one of the measures to find out if objectors truly believe in peace, a South Korean district prosecutors’ office announced that it would look into objectors’ gaming history as one measure, including whether they have actively played online games that involve violence.
The Ulsan prosecutors’ office, which is looking into cases of 11 conscientious objectors, won approval from the court to investigate their gaming experiences. Under the court’s approval, the prosecutors requested data of the objectors at five major gaming firms.
The information requested by investigators was whether the objectors had IDs for such games and how long have they played them. As gaming firms only saves players’ data for around six months, prosecutors said they understand it will be hard to find out the history of people who have not recently played games.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Someone should have asked the ROK defense minister what he meant by countering threats in all directions? Does he Japan is a military threat against South Korea?:

South Korea will increase defense spending by an average of 7.5 percent each year over the next five years with a focus on building “independent capabilities to counter threats from all directions,” Seoul’s defense ministry said Friday.
The ministry announced its defense blueprint for the 2019-2023 period, during which it wants to spend 270.7 trillion won (US$241.9 billion) — 94.1 trillion won on improving defense capabilities and the rest on managing troops, equipment and facilities. 
Under the plan, the ministry seeks to increase the country’s defense budget, which stands at 46.7 trillion won this year, to 50.3 trillion won for 2020, 54.1 trillion won for 2021, 57.8 trillion won for 2022 and 61.8 trillion won for 2023.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is good news for ROK Army conscripts:

Enlisted soldiers will be allowed to stay off base for about four hours after hours during weekdays starting in February as part of efforts to protect the rights of conscripts. 
The Defense Ministry on Thursday announced a set of new guidelines that will allow soldiers to leave their base from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. up to twice a month. They can meet family and friends, pursue their studies or enjoy themselves as long as their fitness for combat is not affected.
Currently conscripts are confined to the district where their barracks is for fear that they will not make it back in time in an emergency. But in future they can travel as far as a two-hour drive from their base. 
Some small businesses near bases were against the plan because they were afraid of losing customers, and some pundits warned the plans could affect discipline. But a ministry spokesman said, “We’re going to rely on common sense when we let soldiers spend time off base.”

Chosun Ilbo