Former service chiefs call military academy merger a threat to officer training system

Former Army, Navy and Air Force chiefs of staff said Thursday that the government's push to merge the three military service academies "irresponsibly undermines the fundamental framework for developing defense talent."

A total of 26 former service chiefs — nine former Army chiefs of staff, six former Navy chiefs and 11 former Air Force chiefs — held a meeting Wednesday at the Air Force Hotel in Seoul and issued a joint statement saying the case for merging the three academies "has not been specifically proven," even as the need for education reform remains constant.

"The logic the government has presented for integration is contradictory," they said. "Joint operational capability is built on the distinct expertise of each service. It is not something that emerges simply from training people together in the same place."

The former chiefs also criticized the government for pressing ahead without broad public consensus. "Public hearings and other opinion-gathering processes are being carried out as a mere formality, with the conclusion already decided," they said, adding that research findings from the academy reform task force had been altered to suit political needs and that the views of relevant experts and public opinion had been ignored. "This approach of pushing ahead regardless can never be justified," they said.

They went on to say that merging the academies requires comprehensive review — covering the entire officer training system, budget implications and site feasibility — and warned that "a hastily pursued merger will cause serious disruption during implementation."

They also argued that it was a misdiagnosis to generalize the political interference of some officers from a particular academy as a problem of that academy as a whole, and to present a merger as the remedy.

"The merger is being driven by political motives rather than by the goal of developing each academy and producing elite officers," they said, calling for those who participated in illegal acts to be held strictly accountable while insisting that discussions on academy development must stay focused on national security and the cultivation of elite officers.

"We, the former chiefs of staff, strongly urge the government to reconsider its push to merge the three service academies," they said. "Even now, the government should abandon the idea of a physical merger and instead devise a fundamental plan that allows junior officers to take pride in their service and attracts talented people to the military."

They said the statement was not intended to criticize any particular administration or express a political position, but to convey to the public and the government the professional views of those who have served as the military's top commanders on a policy with long-term implications for national security.