Announcement canceled, rally held, public input promised — a turbulent week for military academy merger plan

A plan to establish a unified "National Military Academy" hit turbulence this week after Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-baek abruptly canceled a scheduled briefing just 100 minutes before it was set to begin. The Army, Navy and Air Force academy alumni associations staged their first joint protest at the National Assembly, and the Defense Ministry ultimately said it would gather public opinion through hearings before moving forward.

As of Sunday, an online petition at the National Assembly calling for Ahn's impeachment had drawn more than 310,000 signatures — the highest for any cabinet-level official since President Lee Jae Myung's government took office. A separate petition demanding a halt to the academy merger and the Korea Military Academy's relocation had also surpassed 130,000 signatures.

Ahn had been scheduled to unveil the foundational plan for the academy consolidation on Monday, but called it off moments before the announcement. Analysts said the ministry may have felt pressure mounting as the merger push fueled calls for the minister's impeachment.

Retired generals have raised concerns that the plan to create a National Military Academy is politically motivated, lacks a clear rationale and could ultimately weaken combat readiness. Critics say the government worked backward — settling on the "National Military Academy" conclusion first and then constructing justifications to fit it. Even those who understand the logic of consolidation from a joint-operations and resource-efficiency standpoint argue the government should not try to wrap everything up within its current term. They say it should instead spend two to three years carefully building policy consensus and persuading the public and veterans.

In response, the three academies' alumni associations held a rally Wednesday morning on the steps of the National Assembly's main building, declaring that "national security can never be the subject of a policy experiment, and the system for training officers who will be responsible for the future of the Republic of Korea must not be swayed by political interests." People Power Party lawmakers Han Ki-ho and Im Jong-deuk, both Korea Military Academy graduates, attended the event.

In a resolution, the groups said the government was "packaging the merger of the military academies and the relocation of the Korea Military Academy as defense reform, but this amounts to a degradation of national defense — something akin to a policy experiment." They added: "Pushing through policy unilaterally while ignoring public opinion is not the principle of liberal democracy. When government policy goes in the wrong direction, the people must stand up."

The resolution also demanded that the government "apologize for unilaterally pursuing the academy merger and KMA relocation while ignoring public opinion, and reconsider the plan from scratch." It further called on the government, if reform is genuinely necessary, to "stop conducting it behind closed doors and instead form a representative consultative body — one that includes active-duty and retired military experts, senior military figures, educators and parents of cadets — and pursue it objectively and transparently." The groups also took a direct swipe at Ahn for canceling the foundational plan briefing he had been set to deliver himself.

The Defense Ministry ultimately signaled it would pursue a public consultation process. Spokesperson Jeong Bit-na said at a briefing Thursday that the ministry would "gather sufficient public opinion through public hearings and policy briefings at the earliest opportunity after announcing the foundational plan, and then proceed."

The consolidation of the three service academies is one of President Lee Jae Myung's campaign pledges and a stated national policy priority. Under the basic framework, first- and second-year cadets would attend a unified National Military Academy for foundational and general education regardless of service branch, then return to their respective academies in their third and fourth years for advanced study and military training. Daejeon's Jaunidae base has been mentioned as the site for the shared curriculum, while the KMA's campus in Nowon-gu, Seoul — at Taereung — would be closed and relocated to Jangseong in South Jeolla Province.

Meanwhile, Ahn returned to work Friday after accompanying President Lee to a NATO summit where defense industry was a central agenda item. The Defense Ministry is weighing various options for announcing the foundational direction of the plan after completing its public consultation process.