The biggest hurdle for the government and ruling party, which have formalized the launch of a "National Military Academy" integrating the army, navy, and air force academies, is opposition inside and outside the military. The government cited strengthening jointness to prepare for future warfare and the transfer of wartime operational control as the rationale for integration, but concerns remain that each service's expertise and identity could be weakened. With discussions on key issues such as cadet selection methods and the budget mostly pushed to after Oct., the controversy is expected to continue for the time being.
The core basis of the basic plan to launch the National Military Academy, which the Ministry of National Defense said on the 16th it would pursue, is that officers need "jointness." Officers are now required to have all-domain operational capabilities that span land, sea, and air, as well as space, including artificial intelligence (AI) and manned-unmanned teaming. The military authorities said jointness is needed because, once wartime operational control is transferred, combined operations with the United States must be led by the Republic of Korea Armed Forces.
An official at the Ministry of National Defense said, "The foundation of jointness lies in the identity of the national military," adding, "We will provide common education first, followed by service-specific training, and complete it through joint education at the major and lieutenant colonel stages. It is important to share the same roots as the national military from the beginning." The intent is to conduct so-called early "jointness" education starting in the cadet years.
However, with no concrete measures presented to strengthen jointness, the dispute continues. A retired colonel told ChosunBiz that the idea that "cooperation works well only if the roots are the same" is an administrative and convenient way of thinking, adding, "Jointness is not an emotional sense of kinship. It is realized when it is combined on the basis of each service's expertise and combat capability." The colonel added, "It is reasonable to expand and improve the quality of joint education after the field-grade officer level."
The alumni associations of the army, navy, and air force academies also issued a joint statement the same day, saying, "The argument that the academies must be integrated into one to educate on the identity of the national military lacks persuasiveness," and called it "a policy that damages the history and traditions of each service." Inside and outside the military, many believe the controversy will not subside easily unless the Ministry of National Defense presents a concrete education model that proves the effect of strengthening jointness.
Concerns also continue as the Ministry of National Defense pushed any mention of the budget to Oct. Although the launch of a new and large-scale military academy is expected to require massive budget spending, not even a broad outline of the budget was released that day. A Ministry of National Defense official said, "We have basic estimates, but after preliminary research we will flesh out the budget and disclose it in Oct." The detailed plan appears not to be finalized, and the Democratic Party said it would reflect the related budget in the 2027 budget bill.
There was also no content on what was considered the core issue: cadet selection. For students considering or preparing to enter the academies, that means uncertainty. It is known that the Ministry of National Defense had reviewed a plan to select army, navy, and air force cadets through a unified process as early as the 2028 academic year, but nothing is said to be finalized at present. The same goes for the cadet selection method and the curriculum. A ministry official said the intent is "to give future cadets enough time to think it through."
While the current administration plans to complete the launch of the National Military Academy within its term, attention is focused on whether the Ministry of National Defense will present a convincing plan within three months, given concerns about whether the plan will be sustained.
In addition, presenting a convincing plan for non-academy officer pipelines such as Reserve Officers' Training Corps, the Korea Army Academy at Yeongcheon, and officer candidate school is also a task for the Ministry of National Defense. Although the ministry set a policy to increase academy admissions in light of admissions competitiveness, there have been criticisms that military elitism could deepen. A ministry official said, "If the population decline becomes a reality around 2040, ROTC will also be reduced," adding, "We are preparing with the idea that the National Military Academy could serve as a model then."
The Ministry of National Defense plans to gather opinions through public hearings and policy briefings over the next three months and announce specific detailed plans in Oct.