By Lee Tae-hoon
The military has named a woman as a general in judicial affairs for the first time.
The Ministry of National Defense said Col. Lee Eun-soo, 46, will become the nation's first female brigadier general in legal affairs, making her the 7th female officer to earn a star.
“More female officers will also be able to become generals if they become experts in their field,” she said.
Lee was commissioned as the first female judicial officer in 1991 and has served as acting chief of the legal department at the Army headquarters.
Her promotion came as the government steps up efforts to give equal opportunities to women in the military.
In December last year, Army Col. Song Myung-soon at the Joint Chiefs of Staff became the nation’s first female combatant general.
There have been five female generals from the nursing corps, but four of them have retired.
With Lee’s promotion, Korea will have three female generals in the predominantly male-dominated profession.
Brig. Gen. Yang Seung-sook, former chief of the Armed Forces Nursing Academy became the first female general in 2001. She retired in 2004.
Despite Lee’s promotion, the portion of female generals still remain less than one percent with some 440 generals in the Korean armed forces.