Armed Forces Day
Slimmer but Stronger Military
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The military marks the 60th anniversary of its founding today after achieving remarkable development from a rudimentary force to one of the world's largest and most advanced armed forces.
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 military were 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 for the military at that time were just Type 99 rifles used by the Japanese army, 105mm field guns and other aging conventional weaponry.
The 1950-53 Korean War provided the undeveloped Asian armed forces with both damage and the 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. Seoul's participation in the Vietnam War in the 1960s also served as a springboard for the South Korean armed forces to modernize themselves, experts say.
In 1966 when South Korean combat divisions were deployed in Vietnam after the initial expedition in 1965, South Korea's force improvement was initiated, though limited, through the so-called U.S. Brown Memorandum that called for U.S. support for South Korea's force modernization plan. The memorandum led to modest improvements such as provision of old-model tanks and M-16 rifles to South Korean forces in Vietnam.
Independent modernization efforts began in the 1970s under the rule of former President Park Chung-hee, with large-scale arms procurement programs, including the $37 billion ``Operation Yulgok,'' though such arms purchase initiatives often led to corruption scandals.
Defense Reform 2020
In 2005, the liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration announced an ambitious plan to improve its military muscle. Despite much controversy over potential budget shortfalls regarding the plan, which was named Defense Reform 2020, the military modernization initiative was considered as laying the groundwork for developing the country's armed forces into ``slimmer but stronger'' ones fit for the changing security environment.
The 15-year force improvement 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.
It also calls for streamlining the force structure of the Army, Navy and Air Force and improving the welfare of soldiers.
The defense reform plan has been under intense review due largely to budget problems. Interim results on the reassessment of Defense Reform 2020 showed that the reform plan is unlikely to get sustainable financial support as originally expected, an official of the Ministry of National Defense said.
The plan was originally estimated to cost a whopping 621 trillion won based on the assumption that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and government expenditures would grow in parallel at roughly 7.1 percent per year from 2006 to 2020. But the GDP did not grow at the rates projected over the past two years, maintaining an average of 4 percent.
High-End Weaponry
The three services of the South Korean armed forces have successfully equipped their troops with up-to-date weapons systems under the Defense Reform 2020 and other arms procurement projects.
For example, the Air Force has introduced 39 F-15K fighters built by the Boeing Company of the United States under a 2002 contract with 21 more F-15Ks being to be delivered by 2012.
The F-15K is capable of air-to-ground, air-to-air and air-to-sea missions day or night, in all weather conditions. It has a 23,000-pound payload and can fly at a maximum speed of Mach 2.3, with an operational radius of 1,800 kilometers. A single aircraft costs approximately $100 million.
The Air Force is considering buying 60 more fighters equipped with the radar-evading stealth technology after 2012.
Last year, the Navy launched the first of the planned three 7,800-ton Aegis ships, taking a big step forward developing its blue-water capability. The latest SPY-1D radar for the KDX-III Aegis destroyer can detect and track about 1,000 targets within a 1,000-kilometer radius and then engage 20 of them at the same time, maintaining constant surveillance of the sky. The radar provides full 360-degree coverage.
The 166-meter-long ship can carry 128 sophisticated missiles including locally developed ship-to-ship missiles and torpedoes in its MK41 Vertical Launch System and Korea Vertical Launch System and will also be used in supporting ground operations, Navy officials said.
The Navy has also launched the 14,000-ton Dokdo, a large-deck landing vessel, and several high-tech submarines.
The Army's main armament include the indigenous XK2 Black Panther tank, K-9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers and the K21 next-generation infantry fighting vehicle.
The XK2, jointly built by the state-owned Agency for Defense Development and 20 other domestic manufacturers, bears an indigenous 120mm/50-caliber smoothbore gun, and is considered a peer of the U.S. M1A2 SEP and the French Leclerc tanks.
It can reach speeds of up to 70 kilometers per hour on surface roads and 50 kilometers per hour off-road with gun stabilization and can cross rivers as deep as 4.1 meters using a snorkel, a considerable improvement over the K1 and K1A1, with the ability to fire as soon as it resurfaces. The tank is to be operational with the Army by 2010.
Wartime Command
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.
Beginning this year, South Korean and U.S. forces are scheduled to conduct two sets of joint drills each year until 2011. The exercises will focus on transforming the U.S.-led combined forces structure to a South Korean-led separate command system.
Overseas Operations
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 has contributed to rebuilding the war-torn Iraq as part of efforts to support multinational humanitarian and reconstruction operations led by the U.S. military.
About 520 South Korean soldiers are currently stationed in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, while there is also a 130-strong transport contingent in Kuwait.
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.
The Dongmyeong Unit is carrying out reconnaissance and surveillance operations there, as well as community outreach activities under the name of ``Peace Wave'' operation, such as reconstruction of schools and public facilities, and medical and educational programs.
