Military academies may merge ceremonies

The Ministry of National Defense is seeking to hold a joint commission ceremony for all military academies, officials said Tuesday.

The move is aimed at reducing the cost of holding all the ceremonies separately. It is also in line with military efforts to curtail administrative procedures and enhance interoperability among the Army, Navy and Air Force, the officials said.

According to the plan under consideration, the Military, Army, Naval, Air Force, Armed Forces Nursing Academies and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps will hold a joint commission ceremony, which will be attended by the president.

Officials also said that with attendance of the president, the ceremony can boost troop morale, and that the defense minister and other top military officials such as the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman can focus on enhancing combat capabilities as the number of events they are asked to attend would decrease under the plan.

The president has so far been able to attend the commission ceremony of each academy every three years as the academies have held the events separately.

In 2008, President Lee Myung-bak attended ceremonies for the Military Academy and ROTC while he attended ceremonies for the Navy Academy in 2009 and those for the Air Force Academy and the Army Academy in 2010.

Should the joint ceremony be held, some 16,000 people including 5,400 academy graduates and their family members are expected to attend.

“What we are considering is that the commission ceremony, which will be attended by the president, would proceed under a somber mood while the graduation ceremony would be held in a festive mood at each academy,” a ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)