Kang Shin-chul urges parties not to turn military academy merger into political fight

Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul on Wednesday made a direct appeal to lawmakers over the plan to merge the Army, Navy and Air Force academies into a single institution. "We are focused on one thing only — nurturing outstanding talent to lead future warfare," Kang said. "I sincerely ask that this not be turned into a political fight, with opposition for the sake of opposition or support for the sake of support."

Kang made the remarks at a plenary session of the National Assembly's Budget and Accounts Committee, after People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jong-wook cautioned against hastily relocating the Naval Academy in Jinhae-gu, Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. "The fact that we are revising the basic plan is not because of opposition from the public, nor is it a retreat, nor is it a compromise," Kang said.

When Lee asked whether the revised plan would be announced by the end of this month, Kang said, "We are not working to a fixed deadline. We are still listening to opinions."

On the question of what the merged institution would be called, Kang said further legal review was needed. "We need to examine whether it is a unit, an agency or a school, and then work out the implementing ordinances," he said.

Addressing concerns that a merger could weaken the class-cohort culture among cadets, Kang said the cadets themselves would ultimately decide how to identify their class. "What class number they call themselves is really up to those cadets," he said. "For example, the 11th class of the Korea Military Academy was originally the 1st class — they later changed it to the 11th. The Third Military Academy also had similar issues with class numbering when it was disbanded and then re-established."

Kang added that officially, the new institution would be established as the Korea Armed Forces Academy, with cadets designated as the 1st class, 2nd class and so on from its founding.

The Defense Ministry, which has been pushing to merge the three academies, is understood to have partially revised its plan — moving away from full consolidation toward a structure in which the Army, Navy and Air Force academies would remain in place as subordinate institutions under a newly created Korea Armed Forces Academy.