The Ministry of National Defense’s plans to reorganize the military’s top command structure have once again run into opposition from retired generals.
On Wednesday, the association of former top military officers from the three branches of the military distributed a statement opposing the plans to the members of the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee, saying that the proposed changes will be ineffective and concentrate too much power on one individual.
Under the Defense Ministry’s plans, the head of the Joints Chiefs of Staff will have operational command over the chief of each branch of the armed forces. In addition, the reform will give operational command to the chiefs of the Army, Air Force and Navy.
At present, the chief of each branch is mostly an administrative role.
The Defense Ministry is set to submit the plans to the National Assembly on Aug. 20 as it seeks approval to go ahead with the changes after a failed attempt to pass them during the previous National Assembly.
“The restructuring plans will make what is in effect a combined force with the chiefs of the Army, Air Force and Navy under the command of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” the association said in the statement. The association’s members include former Defense Minister Cho Young-gil, former Chief of Naval Operations Ahn Byeong-tae and several former Air Force chief of staff. The former officers added that concentrating so much authority on one individual was against the principle of keeping the military under strict control.
Noting that administrative duties make up more than 80 percent of wartime operations, the retired officers said that giving operational command to the chief of staff will place too much burden on the heads of the three forces.
By Choi He-suk (
cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)
