78% support reform of military command structure

By Lee Tae-hoon

Three out of four Koreans support the government’s ongoing efforts to reform the nation’s military command structure, according to the results of a survey released Wednesday.

The Seoul-based Hangil Research and Consulting conducted the survey on 1,000 adults on Sunday and Monday.

When asked about restoring operational command to the heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force and streamlining the military’s top brass, 77.6 percent responded positively.

54.9 percent replied that they strongly want the nation to push ahead with the reforms, while 22.7 percent said they see the need for it.

Five percent opposed the plan, while 17.4 percent declined to answer, saying they were not familiar with the issue.

The government submitted a set of defense reform bills to the National Assembly on June 13. The mainstay of the plan is to allow the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force to participate in military operations under the supervision of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the defense minister.

Under the current law, the heads of the three Armed Forces are only responsible for training troops and providing intelligence, logistics and manpower support.

They were have been stripped of their rights to participate in the execution of military operations since 1991 to prevent a military coup and give more authority to the head of the JCS.

When the poll asked whether those surveyed were aware that the chiefs of the Armed Forces have no authority in regard to operational command, only 19.8 percent answered “yes.”

The remaining 80.2 percent replied that they did not know of the restrictions imposed on the three four-star generals.

The survey also found that the majority of people support the government’s plan to reduce the number of military generals by 15 percent over the next 10 years to streamline the command structure.

At the moment there are some 440 generals in the 650,000 strong troops.