Kang Shin-chul says Marine Corps' existence alone deters enemy provocations, vows 'quasi-fourth branch' overhaul

Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul visited the Marine Corps Command and Northwest Islands Defense Command on Friday to inspect operational readiness and reaffirm his commitment to restructuring the Marine Corps into a quasi-fourth military branch — a key policy agenda of the Lee Jae Myung administration.

At the combat operations center of the two commands in Balan, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Kang received a briefing on the operational situation and said the Marine Corps, as the nation's strategic mobile force, "holds strong strategic value — its very existence deters enemy provocations."

He urged the Marines to "become a force that wins any mission, at any time, through the strength built by rigorous training."

Kang also received a briefing on the push to restructure the Marine Corps into a quasi-fourth branch. "The Marine Corps stands at a historic turning point toward a new identity," he said, adding that he would pursue its transformation into "an operational command that embodies modern maneuver warfare and strengthens the Marine Corps' standing and capabilities."

The core of the plan is to keep the Marine Corps under the Navy as it currently stands, while granting the Marine Corps commandant a level of command and supervisory authority comparable to that of the Army, Navy and Air Force chiefs of staff, thereby enhancing the corps' independence.

The plan is distinct from a full "four-branch system" that would separate the Marine Corps from the Navy and establish it as an entirely independent service.

To support the restructuring, the government is also working to transfer operational control over major Marine Corps units — currently held by the Army — back to the Marine Corps.

Operational control of the 1st Marine Division, currently under the Army's Second Operations Command, is set to transfer to the Marine Corps by the end of this year. Operational control of the 2nd Marine Division, currently under the Capital Corps, is to follow by 2028. However, the transfer for the 2nd Division covers only peacetime operational control — the Capital Corps will continue to exercise wartime operational control.

Alongside the transfer of operational control, the Defense Ministry plans to review promoting a Marine Corps officer to the four-star rank and establishing a separate operational command, with the aim of building a command structure, staff organization, and equipment and weapons systems befitting the quasi-fourth branch framework.