The Democratic Party of Korea and the government on the 16th unveiled a plan to establish the Armed Forces Academy, integrating the Army, Navy and Air Force academies, at Gyeryongdae in Daejeon.
The Democratic Party and the Ministry of National Defense held a party-government consultation at the National Assembly on the morning of the same day to discuss plans to launch the Armed Forces Academy. Minister Ahn Gyu-baek met with reporters after the consultation and said, "The academy education system that has been maintained over the years is facing serious challenges inside and out," and added, "To answer whether our military can prevail in the future, we prepared a basic plan to establish the Armed Forces Academy."
Minister Ahn announced that the Armed Forces Academy would be located in Daejeon. He said, "We will create an integrated Army, Navy and Air Force academy in the heart of science and technology, where outstanding universities including KAIST, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), and the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute are clustered, and build a cutting-edge smart campus," and added, "We will design the curriculum to cultivate specialized branches of each service that lead all-domain operations, including space, cyber and electronic, and to foster international literacy."
Specifically, the share of civilian professors will be raised from the current 24% to more than 50%, and their treatment will be guaranteed at the level of national universities. It also said a dedicated organization would be launched to turn it into a defense hub that will carry out various programs such as a nursing academy and an advanced academy centered on the Armed Forces Academy over the long term.
The Democratic Party will also actively support the launch of the Armed Forces Academy. Floor leader Han Byeong-do said, "The separate academy system for the Army, Navy and Air Force has run up against several practical limits," and added, "The Democratic Party will swiftly pass the law to establish the Armed Forces Academy to lay the institutional foundation, and will also provide the budget in a timely manner to prepare new educational facilities."
Policy Committee Chair Han Jeong-ae also said, "The first step in defense reform is integrating the service academies," and added, "To complete defense reform, we will draw up concrete execution plans to train elite officers who will carry out combined and joint operations, efficiently prepare for future warfare, and address population decline."