Tag: ROK military

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Jang Jun-gyu speaks during a send-off ceremony for the 11th batch of South Korean troops in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the Special Warfare Command in southern Seoul on July 19, 2016. Since 2011, the UAE has been home to some 150 troops charged with training UAE special forces and conducting joint military drills. Their unit is known as “Ahk,” an Arabic word meaning “brother.” (Yonhap)

I wonder how the ROK military plans to keep the location a secret?  I have no doubt the location will quickly be leaked to the media one THAAD deploys to South Korea:

Han responded to China’s discontent over THAAD being placed on South Korean soil and concerns that it could worsen the relationship between South Korea and China, saying the two countries should strengthen their talks.

Han said that the site for the THAAD deployment will be announced soon, but the specific location will not be made public due to military secrecy.  [Yonhap]

I am a bit surprised that it has taken this long for a North Korean defector to serve in the ROK military:

A North Korean defector recently completed his mandatory military service in South Korea, according to Korea Hana Foundation, a state-funded organization helping defectors, Thursday.

Kim Ji-hwan, 22, was discharged on Feb. 23 after serving two years as an Air Force sergeant in the 8th Fighter Wing in Wonju, Gangwon Province.

Kim is the first North Korean defector to have completed military service here, according to the Military Manpower Administration (MMA).

All able-bodied South Korean men aged between 19 and 37 are subject to compulsory military duty. But those who escaped from North Korea can legally refuse the draft under the Conscription Law, the MMA said.

Despite this, Kim applied for service in the Air Force. There are no other North Korean defectors serving in the military.

Kim fled to South Korea with his family in 2005. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

I am all for North Korea regime collapse planning, but does that mean that US forces need to be the ones entering North Korea?:

 Instability within North Korea will lead to its collapse “sooner than many of us think,” a former U.S. Forces Korea commander says.

Retired four-star Gen. Walter Sharp was among five panelists Tuesday who opened a three-day symposium, sponsored by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare, on strengthening land forces across the Pacific.

North Korea garnered most of the panel’s attention, driven by the volatile nation’s uptick in missiles launches and its fourth nuclear test earlier this year.

Sharp, who headed USFK in 2008-11, said he recently guaranteed Gen. Vincent Brooks, the newly minted USFK commander, there would be major changes on the peninsula before his tenure ends.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but I have longed believed that US soldiers should not step foot into North Korea despite recommendations previously made that 150,000 US troops would be needed to secure North Korea.  Considering the advantages in culture and language the ROK military has why can’t they be the ones to occupy North Korea?  North Koreans are programmed to believe that South Koreans are puppets of the Americans and if US forces are seen with ROK forces in North Korea this will just validate this belief.  Does the US military really want to occupy a country with a bitter population awash in weapons and explosives?  Plus the threat of 150,000 US troops entering North Korea is the reason why China keeps the Kim regime in power in the first place.  What would the US government think if 150,000 Chinese soldiers showed up on our border with Mexico?

I just do not see how 150,000 US soldiers showing up in a collapsed North Korean state benefits the ROK, North Korea and most importantly the United States?  Maybe I am missing something, but can anyone else make an argument why there needs to be a US military occupation of North Korea?

I did not realize that serving in a research institute was a way to avoid mandatory military service.  This does not seem like a fair alternative to mandatory military service compared to the guys that have to join the ROK military or National Police:

After announcing on Tuesday that military service exemptions for college students of natural sciences and engineering will not extend beyond 2023, the Ministry of National Defense has backpedaled from this decision. Initially, the ministry said that it expects that there will be a shortage of able-bodied Korean men to serve in the military from 2020 and that it will subsequently get rid of the current exemption measure.

The announcement has resulted in an immediate backlash from engineering and natural science students from Kaist, Seoul National University, Postech and other universities as well as from small- and medium-sized companies and agencies that count on the added talent of young men.

But Moon Sang-gyun, spokesman of the Defense Ministry, said in a briefing on Thursday that the plan to get rid of the current exemption measure was one that “has been in under constant review since the early 2000s.”

He added, “The plan is under review in related ministries and agencies, however there has been a misunderstanding that the measure is already confirmed, causing controversy beyond what is needed.”

Under the current exemption measure, individuals who are eligible to be drafted for two-year compulsory military service can instead serve out their term as a conscripted police officer, firefighter, in the coast guard or in another relevant agency, company or research institute. Graduate students in natural sciences or engineering at top schools are in especially high demand at research institutes and small- and medium-sized companies.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

Hopefully this doesn’t turn out to be a major safety issue with the ROK militaries Surion helicopters:

The South Korean military opened an investigation into the indigenously developed military helicopter Surion after some of the fleet had cracked windshields and other cracking problems, the defense procurement agency said Monday.

“Some of the (locally operational) 40 or so Surions have shown problems on their airframes,” Kim Si-cheol, spokesman at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), said in a press briefing earlier in the day.

Currently, the DAPA is consulting the chopper’s producer, Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. and other defense procurement bodies on how to resolve the issue, Kim said.

According to DAPA officials, the investigation has shown so far that four Surion choppers had cracks developed in the vibration absorption devices in the left part of their airframes and some other choppers had cracked windshields.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link.

This is the down side of free trade deals that Korean businesses are now experiencing which is competition with foreign brands to include in the tobacco industry:

Local tobacco-makers and farmers on Thursday questioned the Defense Ministry’s approval of foreign cigarettes on Korean military bases, saying it hurts national pride.

A welfare committee of the ministry approved the sale of foreign tobacco brands for the first time.

They include Marlboro Gold Original by U.S.-based Philip Morris, and Mevius LSS Wind Blue by Japanese maker JTI, according to Defense Ministry sources.

This will be the first time that foreign cigarettes are being sold at post exchange stores, effectively challenging the monopoly of KT&G. The move comes 10 years after the bidding process was opened up to foreign manufacturers in 2006.

The new brands approved by the ministry also includes Raison French Black and Bohem Cigar Slim Fit Brown by KT&G.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link.

Miss Korea 2015 Lee Min-ji (C) poses for a photo alongside runners-up Kim Jung-jin (L) and Kim Ye-rin during a ceremony in Seoul on March 28, 2016, to mark their appointments as honorary ambassadors for the Military Manpower Administration. (Yonhap)

Just like in the United States, defense companies often collude with military officers to win contracts and sometimes not in an ethical manner.  What I found most interesting about this article is that the ROK developed liquid body armor that was bomb resistant which I have never heard of before:

Lobbying by a defense company resulted in it being granted general monopoly rights by the Ministry of National Defense on a body armor project worth up to 270 billion won (US$231 million) – even after the ministry had developed its own state-of-the-art body armor at a cost of 2.8 billion won (US$2.4 million).Samyang Chemical, parent group of Samyang Chemtec – which came under fire last year for its production of penetrable body armor – hired 29 reserve soldiers over six years to work as lobbyists for affiliates. Seven were found to be retired generals employed under false pretenses in defiance of ethics regulations against the employment of former senior officials.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read much more about this scandal at the link and the long and sometimes unethical ties to the military Samyang Chemical has.

South Korea has set 2016 national budget at 386.7 trillion won, up 3 percent from 375.4 trillion won in 2015. The defense budget was increased by 4 percent to improve the country’s military readiness.  [Yonhap]