Tag: ROK military

As Korea’s birthrate continues to remain low it will need to ensure every young person in Korea to include mixed race young men want to join the ROK military:

The quiet of an Army base in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, was shattered one spring afternoon when a 22-year-old private from a multicultural family jumped from a second-floor barracks window. Fellow soldiers had taunted him as a “fake Korean” — a slur that cut deeper than any drill sergeant’s shout. Although he survived, the fall left him with serious spinal injuries.

But his leap caused more than just physical trauma: It forced a reckoning with how South Korea’s military confronts questions of race, identity and a society in transition.

For nearly a decade, the Army has refrained from keeping formal records on recruits from multicultural backgrounds, arguing that identifying them could foster prejudice. But critics say the well-intentioned policy has had the opposite effect, leaving commanders without even a basic grasp of who is serving in their ranks — or what kinds of support those soldiers might require.

The Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA) now estimates that there are around 4,400 soldiers from multicultural backgrounds in uniform and that this figure will double to around 10,000 by 2030 — roughly one in every 20 conscripts.

“These soldiers will become an essential part of Korea’s manpower pool as the birthrate plunges,” Hong Suk-ji, a senior research fellow at KIDA, said. “The military needs to move beyond piecemeal support and embrace true diversity management.”

The soldier at the center of the case, a private, was born to a Chinese father and a North Korean defector mother. Investigators were told that in the weeks leading up to his fall, he had endured repeated taunts, including a racist slur directed at people of Chinese descent and a derogatory term meaning “fake Korean.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

If proven that Yoon Suk-yeol was trying to get North Korea to launch a provocation against South Korea to justify martial law, this seems like it would be an abuse of power:

This image, provided by the Korean Central News Agency on Oct. 19, shows the remains of a drone that Pyongyang claims was sent from South Korea. The drone was described as the same type that was publicly displayed on Armed Forces Day in Seoul earlier in the month. [YONHAP]

“The search warrants are being executed at 24 military-related locations,” the special counsel team said. “We cannot disclose the exact sites due to military security concerns.” 
  
Investigators are probing whether Yoon, as commander-in-chief, directly ordered the drone command in October 2024 to carry out a drone operation over Pyongyang to manufacture conditions justifying a martial law declaration. The investigation is also examining whether the military engaged in a systematic cover-up. 
  
A recorded testimony from an active-duty officer — already questioned as a witness — claims that Kim told subordinates the order came from “V,” and had to proceed without notifying the Defense Ministry or Joint Chiefs. The officer said the operation included dispersing propaganda leaflets and intentionally exposing drones to North Korean detection. “V” is a designation used by the South Korean military to refer to the sitting president, and is used especially when dealing with matters of national security or covert operations. It is shortened from “VIP,” which is also used to refer to the president.

“The search warrants are being executed at 24 military-related locations,” the special counsel team said. “We cannot disclose the exact sites due to military security concerns.” 
  
Investigators are probing whether Yoon, as commander-in-chief, directly ordered the drone command in October 2024 to carry out a drone operation over Pyongyang to manufacture conditions justifying a martial law declaration. The investigation is also examining whether the military engaged in a systematic cover-up. 
  
A recorded testimony from an active-duty officer — already questioned as a witness — claims that Kim told subordinates the order came from “V,” and had to proceed without notifying the Defense Ministry or Joint Chiefs. The officer said the operation included dispersing propaganda leaflets and intentionally exposing drones to North Korean detection. “V” is a designation used by the South Korean military to refer to the sitting president, and is used especially when dealing with matters of national security or covert operations. It is shortened from “VIP,” which is also used to refer to the president.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

I would hope that ROK counterintelligence agents would be keeping close tabs on any ROK Soldier with ties to China to prevent spying like this:

A South Korean soldier raised in China has been arrested on suspicion of leaking classified military information about joint U.S.-South Korean exercises to Chinese intelligence agents, prosecutors said this month. The 22-year-old army supply specialist, whose name has not been released, was arrested April 18 and charged with leaking military secrets and accepting bribes from foreign agents, according to a redacted indictment filed May 15 by the Military Prosecutors’ Office in Gangwon District.

Prosecutors allege the soldier transmitted information — including details related to Ulchi Freedom Shield, a large-scale joint military exercise with the United States — to China’s Intelligence Bureau of the Joint Staff Department. The leaked documents reportedly contained sensitive details such as base names, troop schedules and logistical capabilities, along with participating troops’ personal information. The soldier allegedly received about $12,215 via the Chinese digital payment platform Alipay, according to the 15-page indictment.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but this guy had major red flags, he was raised in China by his grandfather who is a retired Soldier and went to college in China as well. While serving in the ROK military he made repeated trips back to China.

With the current political uncertainty in South Korea, the ROK military probably does not want to something as significant as direct military cooperation with Japan, even if it is in the Philippines:

The South Korean Marine Corps on Tuesday denied Japanese media reports that claimed the two countries will hold a joint military drill in the Philippines next month.

Earlier in the day, Kyodo News Agency and NHK reported the Korean Marine Corps will hold its first-ever joint exercise with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) during KAMANDAG, an annual international military exercise in the Philippines, slated for next month. 

The Marine Corps, however, rejected the reports, saying it has no such plan.

“We will conduct combined drills with the United States and the Philippines, but have no plan to do so with the JGSDF,” an official from the Marine Corps told Yonhap News Agency over the phone.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

A lot of military careers are being ended due to the pilots who committed the error of mistakenly bombing a Korean village back in March:

Two Air Force unit commanders have been booked in relation to an unprecedented mistaken bombing on a civilian town last month, officials said Monday, as the ministry released the interim probe results of the fighter jet accident.

On March 6, two KF-16 fighter jets dropped eight MK-82 bombs outside a training range in Pocheon, some 40 kilometers north of Seoul, during live-fire drills, injuring 52 people, including 38 civilians, according to an estimate by city authorities.

The two pilots, who are alleged to have erroneously entered the target coordinates prior to the live-fire drills, have been booked over charges of professional negligence resulting in injury and damaging military facilities. The pilots have also been suspended from air duty for one year.

“The ministry plans to refer the two pilots and the unit commanders who have been booked to the military prosecution after the probe concludes and seek disciplinary action against nine officials who were found to have belatedly reported the case and taken insufficient measures,” the ministry’s criminal investigation command said in a release.

The nine officials include seven from the Air Force and two from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, it added.

The ministry also plans to issue a warning against the Air Force’s operations commander, holding him accountable for command responsibility and insufficient reporting.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it is interesting that personnel all the way up in the Joint Chiefs of Staff is facing charges. How could they have prevented this pilot error from happening?

The same ROK general involved with consulting a shaman on many occasions before the failed martial law decree also apparently gave orders based on movie screenplays:

Noh Sang-won, the former commander at the Korea Defense Intelligence Command under investigation for his role in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched imposition of martial law, once ordered disposal of his own men with explosives, an Army brigadier general formerly under Noh’s command said Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Park Min-woo, who served at the KDIC under Noh, told the National Assembly that Noh used to give orders that “were based on movie screenplays.” During Park’s time as the deputy chief of the KDIC’s Headquarters of Intelligence Detachment, he used to oversee espionage missions against North Korea.

Park’s remarks were made in a parliamentary hearing to illustrate Noh’s character, not Noh’s actual role in the plotting and execution of Yoon’s Dec. 3 martial law plan.

“In 2016, I was working on an important mission against North Korea for six months, and Commander Noh instructed me to get rid of the agents after the mission,” he told the special parliamentary committee investigating the president for allegedly leading an insurrection. “When I asked how I would do it, he told me to blow them up. The method was to make them wear explosive belts that could be remotely detonated.”

“I cursed at him to myself. … He wasn’t an expert in special missions, so all I had to do was return (the agents) safely (without carrying out Noh’s orders),” he said.

Park feuded with Noh in August last year, in which Noh supposedly threw objects at him and Park filed for complaint against Noh for assault. Noh then claimed that he had been subject to verbal abuse by Park and filed a complaint against him.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but General Noh appears to have ascended to the top ranks of toxic leaders.

The flying of the drone over Pyongyang is clearly not a secret any more:

Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo voiced concerns Tuesday over a potential probe into allegations that the South Korean military flew drones over Pyongyang last year, citing the need to maintain ambiguity in responding to North Korea’s claim.

The JCS chairman made the remark as he dismissed suspicions raised by the opposition bloc that the military engaged in activities aimed at inducing North Korea’s provocations ahead of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched martial law imposition last month.

The military has maintained its stance of neither confirming nor denying the alleged drone infiltration, which Pyongyang first made public in October, citing operational security.

“Saying that we cannot confirm is a strategy to pressure the counterpart, limit its options and cause confusion by keeping our secret,” Kim said in a special parliamentary committee session into Yoon’s martial law imposition.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the Korean left seems more upset about the ROK military flying a drone over Pyongyang and doesn’t care about all the drones and shit balloons that North Korea has flown over the ROK in the recent past.

Considering all the past North Korean drone incursion issues the ROK has had they need to get better at detecting and countering these drones:

A pair of military exercises over South Korea emphasized air defense and ground support this week as 2024 nears its final days. The country’s military branches trained Thursday afternoon to improve the nation’s air defense response to North Korean drone intrusions, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The joint exercise, announced Wednesday, involved a simulated attack by multiple drones over the East Sea, or Sea of Japan, and the Yellow Sea, and rear areas, according to a news release by the Joint Chiefs. “This training will simulate responses to potential provocations involving multiple small North Korean drones infiltrating South Korean land and sea, including operating a large number of small drones as virtual enemy aircraft,” the release states.

Units of the South Korean army, navy and air force worked to detect, identify and simulate the downing of small drones, according to the Joint Chiefs.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Maybe South Korea should mass produce these missles and sell them to Ukraine?:

South Korea’s military test-fired a short-range ballistic missile Thursday to demonstrate it could “respond to any North Korean provocations” following the communist regime’s recent missile launches.

The South Korean Missile Strategy Command fired a Hyunmoo-2 missile from South Chungcheong Province, about 65 miles southwest of Seoul, to demonstrate the command’s ability to make “precision strikes against the enemy’s origin of provocation,” according to a news release Friday from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The domestically made weapon flew roughly 125 miles to strike a simulated target in the Yellow Sea, also known as the West Sea, the Joint Chiefs said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.