Graduate of the Korea Army Academy nominated for JCS chief

Graduate of the Korea Army Academy nominated for JCS chief. September. 15, 2015 07:18. eligius@donga.com.

For the first time since the establishment of the South Korean military, a general who graduated from the Korea Army Academy took the top position in the military forces. In a major reshuffle of the military on Monday, Army Gen. Lee Soon-jin, the 14th graduate of the Korea Army Academy, was nominated to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The nomination came as a surprise following last year’s nomination of Adm. Choi Yoon-hui, the current chairman of JCS. Graduates of the Korea Military Academy may feel disappointed at the result. Out of Thirty-nine heads of JCS, including 37 army generals, 1 admiral, and 1 Air Force general (former Defense Minister Lee Yang-ho), 36 are graduates from the Korea Military Academy.

In every organization, if the organization is reshuffled, transition and hand-over process takes much time. There is a tendency that the process becomes simple and short if the reshuffled position is a high rank. As the successor has in-depth experiences and great competence, it is not necessary to explain all the details. “Don’t go to Gangnam (areas below the Han river).” One JCS chief in the past left this message only to his successor. This was an advice to stay around the office as the JCS chief must be ready to give directions in an emergency case. In fact, the JCS chairman must work under a lot of pressure to be ready to work in five minutes at any time throughout the two-year term.

As North Korea raided the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Jan. 21 and captured USS Pueblo on Jan. 23, 1968, the South Korean government saw the necessity to build up elite military officers. This is the background of how the Korea Army Academy opened on Oct. 15 the same year. Now, the school has become the world’s one and only military academy which allows the transfer admission. Students who finished the second year in college education can apply to the military academy and learn in the third and fourth years at this school. In its initial period, the Korea Army Academy had focused on producing officers armed with strong combat power which could exceed that of the Unit 124, North Korea’s special operation unit. The number of elementary level officers produced by the Korea Army Academy was higher than that of the Korea Military Academy but graduates from the army academy were promoted slower than the counterparts from the Korea Military Academy. Lee, the nominee for JCS chairman, was promoted several years later than the 33rd graduates from the Korea Military Academy, who were commissioned around the same time as Lee.

Lee is the only one from Daegu and North Gyeongsang region among the candidates for the JCS chief. Even in the military, political luck must not be ignored as a person goes up in the hierarchical ladder. Lee reportedly had little issues that could spark controversies. As the military recently has been a hot bed of accidents and corruption, the public’s concerns are mounting. If Lee’s leadership puts the military back on the right track, it will contribute to increase the diversity in composition of military officers, which can result in development of strong military forces.