Korean graduates from Russian college with honors
Lt.-Col. Yoon Young-ho
By Kwon Ji-youn
An Air Force Lt.-Col. Yoon Young-ho has become the first Korean to graduate with honors from a Russian command and a general staff college, established by the Russia Aerospace Defense Forces.
According to military sources, Yoon received perfect scores in all 31 of his college classes, and graduated last month.
“I studied extremely hard because I couldn’t let down the people who expected highly of me,” Yoon said. “I feel pleased to have proven the superiority of Korean officers.”
The college Yoon attended focuses heavily on producing talented individuals whose expertise lies in aerospace and air defense.
At first, Yoon was commissioned as a secretary of the army but in 1991 he became an Air Force lieutenant colonel because the army’s air defense battalion was placed under the control of the Air Force.
Yoon said that he experienced one major difficulty upon landing in Russia to attend school ㅡ the language barrier.
“At first I couldn’t communicate with anyone,” he said. “But I stayed up at night studying, and so now I am able to research and present with no such difficulty.”
Yoon left for Russia in October 2010 and graduated in June 2013.
He was also invited to attend a banquet hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, held at the Moscow Kremlin, a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow where the official residence of the president is situated.
Yoon will return to Korea today and will take part in air defense duty to be held at the Republic of Korea Air Force, Air Defense Artillery Command.
“I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to receive commissioned education by the Air Force,” he said. “I hope to apply what I learned in Russia about missiles to the Air Force here.”