For the first time, a woman has been selected as the Korean deputy commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Division, a mixed unit of the South Korean and U.S. militaries.
According to the military on the 8th, Army Brig. Gen. Moon Han-ok (42nd class of the Women's Military Academy) recently took office as the Korean deputy commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Division. Commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1997, Moon was promoted in the general officer personnel moves on Jan. 9.
As a major, Moon served as a strategic analysis officer in the Plans and Policy Directorate at the Combined Forces Command, handling combined exercise scenarios and strategic environment analysis, and as a lieutenant colonel, worked at the New Combined Defense Promotion Group in the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) on the transfer of wartime operational control, making Moon an expert in combined defense and combined operations.
Moon was an early member when the ROK-U.S. Combined Division was established in 2015, and in 2021 served as the Korean chief of staff of the division. Until just before this post, Moon, as director of international military cooperation at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), handled alliance-related duties such as the Military Committee between the South Korean and U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Moon said, "While serving at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), I reflected on the ROK-U.S. alliance at the strategic echelon, and I also hoped to further develop the alliance at the tactical echelon," adding, "I am very honored to take office as deputy commander of the Combined Division."
Moon added, "At this critical time for the transfer of wartime operational control, I want to help enhance interoperability between the two countries and build an organization where junior officers can reflect on and establish their identity as South Korean soldiers."
Established in 2015, the ROK-U.S. Combined Division is a combined unit of the Republic of Korea Army and the U.S. Army, and is the world's only tactical-level unit in which forces of different nationalities share a single command structure and are organized as one division. Based on the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division stationed on the Korean Peninsula, more than 100 personnel from the Korean Army's coordination group are organized together and work with U.S. troops in the staff.
As with the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command, where the commander is a U.S. officer and the deputy commander is a South Korean officer, the division commander of the combined division is the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division commander (major general), and the deputy division commander is a South Korean brigadier general.