Military of South Korea

The military of South Korea (Korean: 대한민국 국군) is one of Asia's largest standing armed forces. It consists of the armed forces in the following services:
*Republic of Korea Army, ROKA (Korean: 대한민국 육군)
*Republic of Korea Navy, ROKN (Korean: 대한민국 해군)
*Republic of Korea Air Force, ROKAF (Korean: 대한민국 공군)
*Republic of Korea Marine Corps, ROKMC (Korean: 대한민국 해병대)
*Republic of Korea Homeland Reserve Forces, ROKHRF (Korean: 대한민국 향토예비군)

Created in 1948, following the division of the Korean Peninsula by occupying Soviet and U.S. forces, it was a largely rudimentary force until the outbreak of the Korean War. It was heavily damaged by North Korean attacks and in the beginning relied almost entirely on American support for weapons, ammunition and technology.

During South Korea's period of rapid growth, the military expanded accordingly, benefiting from several government-sponsored technology transfer projects and indigenous defense capability initiatives. Currently the ROK Navy has embarked on a rigorous ship-building program with ambitions to become a substantial blue-water navy by 2020. During the outbreak of the Vietnam War, South Korean marines were among those fighting alongside the United States and gained the respect of both the locals and their enemies, earning their nickname as "Deamon-hunters" by the Viet Cong.

Today, the ROK military forces are responsible for maintaining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the republic, but often engage in humanitarian and disaster-relief efforts nation wide. More recently the ROK military has began increasing its participation in international affairs, acknowledging its role and responsibility as the twelveth economic power in the world in terms of GDP. The ROK military has participated in various peacekeeping operations across Africa, East Timor, and more recently Iraq and Afghanistan.

Modernization efforts for the ROK military have been in place since the 1980s, and continue to this day. South Korea enjoys of a good mix of avant-garde as well as older conventional weapons. The Republic of Korea has one of the highest defense budgets in the world, regularly making the list of top ten. Its capabilities inlcude many advanced American and European weapon systems, complimented by a growing and increasingly more advanced indigenous defense manufacturing sector.

Today, South Korea has a joint military partnership with the United States as outlined by the Mutual Defense Treaty signed after the Korean War. South Korea also takes part in regional as well as pan-Pacific national military wargames and exercises such as RIMPAC and RSOI.

Military Overview

Military service is mentioned as one of the Four Constitutional Duties (along with taxes, education, and labor). The current effective Conscription Law, however, applies only to males although women can volunteer as officers.

Military service varies according to branch: 24 months for the Army and Marine Corps, 26 months for the Navy and 28 months for the Air Force. Recently, however, there has been significant pressure from the public demanding either a shortening of the term or a switch to voluntary military service.

All branches share a common rank-system, with different colors used to denote the different branches.

Army

The ROK Army is by far the largest of the military branches, with over 560,000 effectives as of 2004. This comes as a response to both the mountainous terrain native to the Korean Peninsula (70% mountainous) as well as the heavy North Korean presence, with its 1 million strong army, two-thirds of which is permanently garrisoned in the frontline near the DMZ.

It should be noted that the current administration has initiated a program of self-defense, whereby South Korea would be able to fully counter the North Korean threat with purely domestic means within the next two decades.

The ROK Army was formerly organized into 3 armies: the First Army (FROKA), Second Army (SROKA), and Third Army (TROKA), each with its own head quarters, corps, and divisions. The Third Army was responsible for the defense of the capital as well as the western section of the DMZ. The First Army was responsible for the defense of the eastern section of the DMZ whereas the SROKA formed the rearguard.

Under a restructuring plan aimed at reducing redundancy, the First and Third Armies have been incorporated into the newly formed Ground Operations Command (GOC), whereas the Second ROK Army has been converted into the Rear Operations Command (ROC).

The army consists of the Army Headquarters, the Aviation Command, and the Special Warfare Command, with 11 corps, 49 divisions, and 19 brigades, some 560,000+ troops5,350+ Tanks/Armored Vehicles, roughly 11,337 Artillery Systems, 7,032+ Missile Defense Systems and 13,000+ infantry support systems

Equipment of the ROK Army include the older M47, M48 as well as the more recent K1 and K1A1, which bear a 120 mm smoothbore gun and are of local manufacture.

The future replacement for the K1A1 MBT has been baptized the XK2, which will be fitted with a German MTU 1500 hp Europowerpack engine, 120 mm main gun with autoloader, which has been reportedly rumored to be able to penetrate through the amount of armor equivalent to that of American M1A2. The new tank will also feature radar equipment as well as all-bearing LASER detection system and reactive armor comparable to the American M1A2 and French LeClerc.

In addition South Korea already manufactures the indigenous K-9 howitzers, which have been exported to Turkey, as well as the K200 series KIFV's which saw action in UN peacekeeping operations as part of the Malaysian peacekeeping forces. A variation of the K200, the KAFV's can be retrofitted to bear a 90 mm barrel or 40 mm grenade turret.

The ROK Army also fields the mobile K-SAM "Pegasus"(Korean:천마), fitted with 8 missiles that fly at maximum speeds of mach 2.6, and the K-30 "Biho"(Korean:비호) series, which feature a 30 mm twin gun system for self-propelled anti-aerial fire support.

Besides having vehicles of their own design as well as American models, the ROK Army also has several Russian-built AFVs, including BMP-3 IFVs and BTR-80 APCs as well as T-80U MBTs. Although they are in active service with the Army, most of them were purchased in order to experiment their technology to be fitted with the ROK's XK2 MBT, such as the Explosive Reactive Armor blocks mounted on several Russian armored vehicles. However, the ROK Army is continuing their purchase of Russian equipments, as their recent addition of two BMP-3U IFVs hints. Other notable foreign equipment in service with the ROK Army includes the ERYX ATGM launchers and Mistral MANPADS.

Navy

ROKS SSK61 Chang Bogo conducting training exercise

The Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) has embarked on a substantial shipbuilding program with its Korean Destroyer eXperimental (KDX) Program. This is a three-phase program consisting of three individual classes of ships: The KDX-I (3800 tons) with Initial Operational Capability (IOC) of 1998, KDX-II (5000 tons) with IOC 2002, and KDX-III (probably 7000+ tons) with IOC 2007/2008. Each phase gets more ambitious with respect to ship size, mounted sensors, and weapon systems. The KDX-I program provided the basis on which the KDX-II and KDX-III will be built.

The eventual program will include the drying of at least three LPX (Landing Platform eXperimental) the ROK Navy's first 13,000 ton helicopter ship, as well as the future PK-X (patrol ship), and FF-X (frigate) and KSS-3 (3,500 ton submarine). As part of their KSS-2 program, the ROK Navy ordered 3 Type 214 submarines from German contractors.

This comes as part of the long-term objective to restructure the formation of the entire ROK Navy into three main fleets: East Fleet, West Fleet, and South Fleet, each of which would be fitted with at least one KDX-III, one LPX, one or two KDX-II, several KDX-I and the accompanying PKX, FFX, and SSX squadrons. The ROK Navy aims to be a substantial blue-water navy by year 2020. The Navy Currently consists of 85 Major Naval Ships (Includes All Military, Logistical, Survey, and Research Craft Under Military Control)

The ROK Navy has no aircraft carriers. In March of 2001, however, then President Kim Dae-jung announced plans for an aircraft carrier as part of the new Strategic Mobile Fleet for sometime after 2010. For a peninsular nation that borders the ocean in three sides and carries out over 90% of its total volume of commerce through sea routes, this has been a long-standing interest. South Korean commercial vessels have often been easy targets in the notoriously pirate-infested waters of the South China Sea. Most recently eight crew members of a commercial Korean shipping boat were kidnapped off the coast of Somalia, putting pressure on the government for more efficient means of protecting its citizens.

Air Force

A South Korean F-15K Eagle comes in for fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker.

The ROKAF is a modern air force, which fields some 600+ combat aircraft of mostly aged American design. In contrast, the North Korean Army has roughly 150-300 more aircraft, but mostly obsolete and some ancient types of Soviet origin.

Korea began a program for the development of indigenous jet trainers beginning in 1997. This project eventually culminated in the KAI T-50, dubbed the "Golden Eagle" which is used as a trainer for jet pilots. An armed version of the T-50 is the modified A-50, which can be fitted with free-fall or precision missiles such as the AGM-65 Maverick.

The replacement programs for the T-50 and A-50 are the KTX-2 and F-X, respectively. The latter has been fulfilled by the Boeing F-15K[1].

The South Korean government also announced its plan to develop indigenous helicopter manufacturing capacities to replace the aging UH-1 helicopters, many of which had seen service during the Vietnam War. The program originally included plans for the development of both a civilian and a military helicopter. This was later revised and gave priority to the utility helicopter program. Based on the success and experience of the civilian KMH (Korean Multi-purpose Helicopter) the attack helicopter, which would share a common configuration, will be developed.

UN Peace Keeping Operations

Until now South Korea has successfully participated in UN-sanctioned peace-keeping operations in East Timor, Somalia, Angola, and Western Sahara, as well as serving as Military Observers in the India-Pakistan border and in Georgia.

Peace-keeping Operations in Iraq

On August, 2004, the South Korean government dispatched 3,400 soldiers to Iraq, third in size after the US and UK, for peace-keeping and reconstruction in Arbil Governorate, in the Kurdish Autonomous Region. The peace-keeping troops were named Zaytun Division and Daiman Unit. Zaytun and Daiman respectively mean peace-symbolizing olive and 'always with you' in Arabic.

Ranks

See also Comparative military ranks of Korea

The rank of "Wonsu" can exist only in:. #state of war, or#during peace-time, when there's a standing force larger than 1 million. Hence it should be noted that there is currently no one holding the title of "Wonsu" in South Korea.

The term "Jangjong" is used for enlisted soldiers before they have been assigned a rank. The term "Hulryeon-byeong" simply means "trainee" and is used for soldiers who have not finished boot camp.

Notes

*
* This figure is from ages 20 to 49.

External links

* Republic of Korea Military Guide (globalsecurity.org)
* Republic of Korea Ministry of National Defense (ROKMND) (Korean / English)

Military of South Korea: Encyclopedia BETA

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