By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The South Korean military is developing into a smaller, stronger version of itself to meet the war environment of the 21st century.
Established in 1948 with only 50,000 troops in the Army and Navy, following the nation's liberation from Japan's colonial rule (1910-45), the Korean military was a rudimentary force largely dependent on U.S. and other foreign forces for national security. The Air Force and Marine Corps were created a year later.
Major weapons systems at the time consisted of Type 99 rifles, 105mm field guns and other aging weapons.
The 1950-53 Korean War damaged the undeveloped Asian armed forces but also gave it an opportunity for growth.
In the face of grave threats posed by North Korea's massive armed forces, South Korea pushed for expanding its military strength.
Some experts consider Seoul's participation in the Vietnam War in the 1960s as a springboard for the South Korean armed forces to modernize.
In 2005, the Roh Moo-hyun administration announced an ambitious plan to improve its military muscle over the next 15 years.
Despite much controversy over potential budget shortfalls regarding the plan, which was named Defense Reform 2020, the military modernization initiative was considered the groundwork for developing the country's armed forces into a ``slimmer but stronger'' one fit for the changing security environment.
The reform package calls for reducing the numbers of troops by 190,000 to 500,000 by 2020 in stages and equipping the armed forces with high-tech weapons systems, such as world-class fighter jets, state-of-the-art tanks and guided missile systems, to fill the possible manpower gap.
The target strength of troops was readjusted to 517,000 in 2009 due mainly to budget shortfalls and continued North Korean threats.
The decades-long U.S-led combined forces mechanism on the Korean Peninsula is to undergo major changes under a landmark pact on command rearrangement plans reached early last year.
The two militaries are on track to put a South Korean-led ``joint defense system'' in place.
Under the accord, South Korean commanders will execute independent operational control of their troops during wartime, beginning April 17, 2012 with the U.S military shifting to a supporting role under the agreement. The Combined Forces Command (CFC) is to be deactivated.
South Korea handed over peacetime and wartime operational control to the U.S.-led UNC at the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War.
The command authority was transferred to the CFC in 1978. Seoul took over peacetime control in 1994.
The notable development of the South Korean military has been reflected in its successful overseas humanitarian and peacekeeping operations.
First deployed in 2004 with some 3,600 troops, South Korea's Zaytun Division contributed to rebuilding the war-torn Iraq for about four years to support multinational humanitarian and reconstruction operations led by the U.S. military.
South Korean forces also carried out humanitarian operations in Afghanistan between 2002 and 2007.
In July last year, Seoul dispatched 350 troops, mostly special forces and engineers, to the southern region of Lebanon for peacekeeping missions at the request of the United Nations.
Last month, a 240-strong peacekeeping unit departed for earthquake-hit Haiti. On top of that, about 350 troops will be redeployed to Afghanistan in July for rehabilitation mission.