Category: ROK Military

I don’t think the North Koreans will be too impressed by this news considering they are developing nuclear warheads:

The South Korean government is pushing to revise the missile guidelines developed with the United States to double the maximum weight of warheads on Seoul’s ballistic missiles from the current 500 kilograms to counter growing threats from the North, sources said Monday.

The Seoul government proposed the revision in line with the Seoul-Washington summit last month, and is known to be planning to begin talks regarding the issue during the annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) and the Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) later this year, they said.

In 2012, the allies revised the ballistic missile guidelines, allowing Seoul to extend the maximum allowable missile range to 800 kilometers from the previous limit of 300 km, against North’s advancing nuclear and ballistic missile capacities. Under the deal, Seoul can load up to 500 kg of warheads on missiles with the range of 800 km.

“Our military is reviewing various measures to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations,” a government official said, declining to comment on the possible revision.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

I don’t know the details for each case so maybe it is bullying, but I have to wonder how much of this bullying is actually strict military discipline being put on mandatory service draftees that are not used to such discipline?:

The recent suicide of a conscript in 22 Infantry Division has again put the spotlight on the division’s cycle of suicides because of alleged bullying.

The private first class jumped to his death on July 19 during a visit to the Armed Forces Capital Hospital.

In a suicide note, he said that every moment of his life had been agony. He apologized to his mother for his actions.

There has been a public outcry since Military Human Rights Korea (MHRK) claimed that the infantry division knew about the bullying, but did little to stop the soldier from killing himself.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Navy recruits toss an assistant instructor into the air in a ceremony to mark the completion of their training at a boot camp in Jinhae on the south coast on July 7, 2017. (Photo courtesy of the Navy) (Yonhap)

If you ever wondered how much a South Korean conscript to include the KATUSA soldiers assigned to US military units make, the answer is not much:

Conscript soldiers’ pay will increase in 2018 to 30 percent of this year’s minimum wage of an annual 1,352,230 won ($1,189.8). This means all draftees will receive 405,669 won, almost double the current 216,000 won. The announcement was made Monday at a regular press briefing by the State Affairs Planning Advisory Committee, President Moon Jae-in’s de facto power transition team.

Pay will be incrementally increased to 40 percent of the minimum wage by 2020, and reach 50 percent by 2022, equivalent to 540,892 won and 676,115 won, respectively.

The move is part of “fulfilling (Moon’s) national defense plan to increase soldiers’ pay,” committee spokesman Park Kwong-on said. President Moon had vowed better treatment for conscripted soldiers ― all able-bodied Korean men aged between 18 and 35 must serve in the military for up to 21 months.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but diving $1,189 annual salary by 12 months means the ROK conscripts are making roughly $99 a month.  The cost savings from mandatory service is why the ROK military will never become a volunteer only military.

I wonder if the jets have “Dokdo is Our Land” painted on the side of them 😉  :

Six South Korean F-16 jet fighters have made an emergency landing at a U.S. military base in Tokyo after a refueling aircraft malfunctioned, U.S. Forces Japan officials said Thursday.

U.S. Forces Japan spokesman Air Force Lt. Col. Kenneth Hoffman said the aircraft are headed to Alaska to participate in the annual Red Flag exercise.

The emergency landing was forced by “a mechanical issue with an air-to-air refueler that was scheduled to support their movement,” Hoffman said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

The ROK Naval Captain is claiming that the sex was consensual, but regardless the Captain shouldn’t be sleeping with a junior officer in the first place.  However, I am not sure if the ROK military has any guidelines against such behavior; if not it should:

A female Navy lieutenant, under the purview of the Navy’s headquarters at the Gyeryongdae compound, was found dead in her home on 5:40 p.m. Wednesday.

While the naval military police view the incident as a suicide, they arrested a male navy captain under allegations of having sexually assaulted the lieutenant the night before.

Her colleagues attempted to reach her by phone after noting her absence in the workplace.

When they went to her home and found she had apparently hanged herself, they contacted military police.

Near her body was a memo saying, “I guess I’m leaving empty-handed like this,” and “By tomorrow, I won’t be a person of this world.”

“There are no signs of forced entry,” military police said.

“She told me she was raped by a superior,” a friend told her family, who then told police.

The military police arrested a naval captain who was at the domicile.

According to naval military police, the two officers drank into the night at a departmental dinner. Police suspect the captain raped her after she lost consciousness.

“I can’t remember clearly cause I was drunk,” he said, adding that while they had sex, he maintains it was consensual.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

It seems the judge found middle ground here because the officer was convicted of the crime of sodomy, but he did not sentence him to jail since it was suspended for one year.  So basically the officer has to stay out of trouble for one year to avoid going to jail.  What I am wondering and the article does not clarify was if he was having a relationship with one of his subordinates?  Whether you are gay or straight this is something that should not be going on in the military:

South Korea’s military court sentenced an Army captain to six months in prison, suspended for a year, Wednesday on charges of having sex with a fellow male soldier, a civic group said.

The captain, whose identity was withheld, was convicted for violating the Military Criminal Act, according to the Center for Military Human Rights Korea. Under the law, a soldier who commits “sodomy” or “other disgraceful conduct” can face up to two years in prison.

“It is a bizarre clause that only has a perpetrator, without a victim,” the group said in a press release, adding the captain had sexual intercourse at a private place under consent.

The defendant, however, will not appeal the ruling, according to an official at the group.

“The captain was fulfilling his military duty and was originally scheduled to be discharged in April,” the official said. “If he appeals the ruling he will have to stay in the military without knowing when the legal battle will be finished.”

The captain collapsed after the ruling was delivered and was transferred to a nearby hospital but is known to have left the hospital in stable condition, according to the official.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

A South Korean Army artillery unit fires a K-55 self-propelled howitzer during a live-fire drill at a training range in the South Korean border city of Paju, north of Seoul, on May 22, 2017, one day after North Korea test-fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile the previous day. (Yonhap) (

South Korea continues to beef up its missile defense capabilities in an effort to keep pace with the North Korean ballistic missile threat:

South Korea said Tuesday it has decided to purchase two advanced early warning radars on incoming ballistic missiles as North Korea’s threats have grown.

The plan was approved at a regular meeting on arms procurement projects presided over by Defense Minister Han Min-koo, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Agency (DAPA).

It plans to import the radars in the project starting within this year.

The South Korean military has two Israel-made Green Pine land-based radars in operation. It is seeking to acquire radars with the maximum range of more than 800 kilometers to better detect ballistic missiles fired by the North.

Initially, the defense authorities earmarked budget for the purchase of one more radar. But they have revised a mid-term defense plan to buy two more.

South Korea is in the process of establishing the so-called Korea Air and Missile Defense system.  [Yonhap]

Here is the latest scandal that the ROK military is responding to:

The South Korean military is currently accused of systematically tracking down homosexual soldiers.

According to the Military Human Rights Center for Korea (MHRCK), Jang Jun-kyu, Chief of Staff for the South Korean army, had ordered a probe to track down gay men in the military (not just the army). The MHRCK claims that Jang and the army’s central cyber investigation team conducted a secret nationwide investigation in February and March, monitoring soldiers through phone-tapping, monitoring gay-dating apps, and conducting one-on-one investigations.

According to the MHRCK, the army’s alleged attempt to establish a “gay blacklist,” as the scandal is being dubbed by some local media, began after a video surfaced online sometime earlier this year. In the video, which is no longer available to the public, a male soldier is having sexual intercourse with another male officer.  [Korea Expose]

You can read the rest at the link, but the MHRCK are now calling for the head of the ROK Army to resign for launching the probe:

South Korea’s army chief is facing calls to resign amid claims he ordered a nationwide probe to root out and prosecute gay personnel.

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article.  According to campaign group the Military Human Rights Center for Korea, General Jang Jun-kyu, army chief of staff, launched a “track-down process” that pinpointed about 50 soldiers, 20 of whom now face charges under military anti-homosexuality laws.  [Financial Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but if General Jang was enforcing ROK Army policy I don’t see any way he resigns.  If someone does not like the policy then campaign to get it changed instead of trying to get someone to resign who is enforcing it.