Military of South Korea

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The armed forces of the Republic of Korea (Korean 대한민국 국군) consist of the:

The military of South Korea is one of Asia's largest standing armed forces. Created in 1948, following the division of the Korean Peninsula by occupying Soviet and U.S. forces, it was a largely rudimentary force at most until the outbreak of the Korean War. It was heavily damaged by North Korean attacks and in the beginning relied almost entirely on American support for weapons, ammunitions and technology.

During South Korea's period of rapid growth, the military expanded accordingly, benefiting from several government-sponsored technology transfer projects and indigenous defense capability initiatives. During the outbreak of the Vietnam War, South Korean forces were among those fighting alongside the United States.

Today, the ROK military forces are responsible for maintaining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of South Korea. Much of the South Korean military is concentrated near the Demilitarized Zone which separates the south from communist North Korea, in response to the heavy North Korean presence.

Other areas that see regular activity by the ROK military include the disputed maritime NLL Northern Limit Line with North Korea, rich in fishing resources, as well as the South Korean coastline, including Jeju Island, the Korea Strait and the surrounding territorial sea.

In an effort to modernize, ROK air, land, and sea forces are now partly supplied with high-tech armor, ammunitions, arms, transportation, and communication systems.

Today, South Korea has a joint military partnership with the United States as outlined by the Mutual Defense Treaty signed after the Korean War. South Korea also take part in regional as well as Pan-Pacific national military wargames and exercises such as RIMPAC and RSOI.

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Military overview

Military service is mentioned as one of the Four Constitutional Duties (along with taxes, education, and labor). The current effective Conscription Law, however, applies only to males although women can volunteer as officers.

Military service varies according to branch: 24 months for the Army and Marine Corps, 26 months for the Navy and 28 months for the Air Force. Recently, however, there has been significant pressure from the public demanding either a shortening of the term or a switch to voluntary military service.

All branches share a common rank-system, with different colors used to denote the different branches.

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Ranks

See also Comparative military ranks of Korea

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The rank of "Wonsu" can exist only in: 1). state of war, or 2). during peace-time, when there's a stading force larger than 1 million. Hence it should be noted that there is currently no one holding the title of "Wonsu" in South Korea.

The term "Jangjong" is used for enlisted soldiers before they have been assigned a rank. The term "Hulryeon-byeong" simply means "trainee" and is used for soldiers who have not finished boot camp.

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Army

Image:Korean Army K1A1 tank.jpg Template:South Korean army

The ROK Army is by far the largest of the military branches, with over 560,000 effectives as of 2004. This comes as a response to both the mountanous terrain native to the Korean Peninsula (70% mountanous) as well as the heavy North Korean presence, with its 1 million strong army, two-thirds of which is permanently garrisoned in the frontline near the DMZ.

It should be noted that the current administration has initiated a program of self-defense, whereby South Korea would be able to fully counter the North Korean threat with purely domestic means within the next two decades.

The ROK Army was formerly organized into 3 armies: the First Army (FROKA), Second Army (SROKA), and Third Army (ROKA), each with its own head quarters, corps, and divisions. The First Army was responsible for the defense of the capital as well as the western section of the DMZ. The Third Army was responsible for the defense of the eastern section of the DMZ whereas the SROKA formed the rearguard.

Under the a restructuring plan aimed at reducing redundancy, the First and Third Armies have been incorporated into the newly formed Ground Operations Command (GOC), whereas the Second ROK Army has been converted into the Rear Operations Command (ROC).

The army consists of the Army Headquarters, the Aviation Command, and the Special Warfare Command, with 11 corps, 49 divisions, and 19 brigades, some 560,000+ troops, 4,975 Tanks/Armored Vehicles, 5,598 battlefield Artillery Systems (Includes Tracked, Wheeled and Towed Systems) and 13,000 Infantry Support Systems.

Equipment of the ROK Army include the older M47, M48 as well as the more recent K1 and K1A1, which bear a 120 mm smoothbore gun and are of local manufacture.

The future replacement for the K1A1 MBT has been baptized the XK2, which will be fitted with a German MTU 1500 hp Europowerpack engine, 120 mm main barrel with autoloader.

In addition South Korea already manufactures the indigenous K-9 howitzers, which have been exported to Turkey, as well as the K200 series KIFV's which saw action in UN peacekeeping operations as part of the Malaysian peacekeeping forces. A variation of the K200, the KAFV's can be retrofitted to bear a 90 mm barrel or 40 mm grenade turret.

The ROK Army also fields the mobile K-SAM "Pegasus"(천마), fitted with 8 missiles that fly at maximum speeds of mach 2.6, and the K-30 "Biho" series, which features a 30 mm twin gun system for anti-aerial fire support.

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Navy

The Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) has embarked on a substantial shipbuilding program with its Korean Destroyer Experimental (KDX). It is a three-phased program consisting of three individual classes of ships: KDX-I (3800 tons) with Initial Operational Capability (IOC) of 1998, KDX-II (5000 tons) with IOC 2002, and KDX-III (probably 7000+ tons) with IOC 2007/2008. Each phase gets more ambitious with respect to ship size, sensors, and weapons. The KDX-1 program provided the basis on which the KDX-2 and KDX-3 will be built.

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The eventual program will include the drying of at least three LPX (Landing Platform eXperimental) the ROK Navy's first 13,000 ton helicopter ship, as well as the future PK-X (patrol ship), and FF-X (frigate) and KSS-3 (3,500 ton submarine). As part of their KSS-2 program, the ROK Navy ordered 3 Type 214 submarines from German contractors.

This comes as part of the long-term objective to restructure the formation of the entire ROK Navy into three main fleets: East Fleet, West Fleet, and South Fleet, each of which would be fitted with at least one KDX-III, one LPX, one or two KDX-II, several KDX-I and the accompanying PKX, FFX, and SSX squadrons. The ROK Navy aims to be a substantial blue-water navy by year 2020. The Navy Currently consists of 85 Major Naval Ships (Includes All Military, Logistical, Survey, and Research Craft Under Military Control)

The ROK Navy has no aircraft carriers. In March of 2001, however, then President Kim Dae-jung announced plans for an aircraft carrier as part of the new Strategic Mobile Fleet for sometime after 2010.

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Air Force

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The ROKAF is a modern air force, which fields some 600+ combat aircraft of mostly American design. In contrast, the North Korean Army has roughly 150-300 more aircraft, but mostly obsolete types of Soviet origin.

Korea began a program for the development of indigenous jet trainers beginning in 1997. This project eventually culminated in the KAI T-50, dubbed the "Golden Eagle" which is used as a trainer for jet pilots. An armed version of the T-50 is the modified A-50, which can be fitted with free-fall or precision missiles such as the AGM-65 Maverick.

The replacement programs for the T-50 and A-50 are the KTX-2 and F-X, respectively. The latter has been fulfilled by the Boeing F-15K[1].

The South Korean government also announced its plan to develop indigenous helicopter manufacturing capacities to replace the aging UH-1 helicopters, many of which had seen service during the Vietnam War. The program originally included plans for the development of both a civilian and a military helicopter. This was later revised and gave priority to the utility helicopter program. Based on the success and experience of the civiliam KMH (Korean Multi-purpose Helicopter) the attack helicopter, which would share a common configuration, will be developed.

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UN Peace Keeping Operations

Until now South Korea has successfully participated in UN-sanctioned peace-keeping operations in East Timor, Somalia, Angola, and Western Sahara, as well as serving as Military Observersers in the India-Pakistan border and in Georgia.

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Peace-keeping Operations in Iraq

On August, 2004, the South Korean government dispatched 3,400 soldiers to Iraq, third in size after the US and UK, for peace-keeping and reconstraction in Arbil Governorate, in the Kurdish Autonomous Region. The peace-keeping troops were named Zaytun Division and Daiman Unit. Zaytun and Daiman respectively mean peace-symbolizing olive and 'always with you' in Arabic.

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Notes

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See also

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External links

ja:韓国軍

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