People Power Party Representative Jang Dong-hyeok speaks at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 20th. July 20, 2026. [Photo=Yonhap News]Jang Dong-hyeok, representative of the People Power Party, compared the Lee Jae-myung administration's plan to integrate the Army, Navy, and Air Force academies to the military education reforms of the Hugo Chávez regime in Venezuela and demanded an immediate halt to the integration process.

At the People Power Party Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 20th, Representative Jang stated, "In 2010, the Venezuelan dictator Chávez integrated the military academies," adding, "It was an attempt to politicize the military and use it as a tool for the regime."

He continued, "The root cause of why Maduro couldn't put up a fight and was captured by the U.S. was that," and argued, "Integrating military academies is a grand national undertaking that determines the future of the military. It is not something to be pushed through hastily without public discussion, and if the purpose is political, it should never be done."

It has been confirmed by the U.S. Department of Defense that Nicolás Maduro was arrested and transferred to the U.S. during the U.S. military's Operation Caracas last January. However, linking the failure of the Venezuelan military to prevent Maduro's arrest to the 2010 military education reforms is Representative Jang's political interpretation.

In September 2010, the Chávez government established the "Bolivarian Military University of Venezuela" via Presidential Decree No. 7662. The decree mandated that existing military education institutions, such as the Army, Navy, Air Force, and National Guard, be incorporated into the new university's organizational structure.

The decree also included provisions defining the purpose of military education as deepening military doctrine based on Bolivarianism and anti-imperialism, civil-military integration, and ensuring the unity of the armed forces. This is the background that connects Representative Jang’s case of Chávez to the politicization of the military.

However, the Venezuelan reorganization involved incorporating each service's academy under a university organization and renaming them. Given that the Army, Navy, and Air Force academies maintained separate institutions and educational foundations, there is an institutional difference from the South Korean government's plan to consolidate faculty, personnel, and facilities for each service in Jaun-dae, Daejeon.

Nevertheless, the domestic opposition to the integration cannot be dismissed merely as a political offensive relying on the Chávez example.

On this day, the general alumni associations of the Army, Navy, and Air Force academies and representatives of the parents of cadets held a joint press conference at the National Assembly and demanded that the government’s basic integration plan be re-examined from scratch.

They argued, "In an era of declining troop numbers, the proportion of elite officers must be increased," adding, "Jointness is not achieved by physically merging academies, but through education and personnel management after commissioning."

They also pointed out, "Military academies are not general universities, but institutions that form the identity of each service," noting that "an Army Academy away from Hwarangdae, a Naval Academy away from the sea, and an Air Force Academy away from the runway could see their very purpose for existence undermined."

Criticism was also raised that the total project cost required for integration and the plan for utilizing existing facilities have not been disclosed. The Air Force Academy General Alumni Association suggested an alternative: a "hyper-connected virtual campus" that connects the three military academies via a digital education network instead of relocating them to a single site.

The core logic of the opposition is that identifying the separation of academies as the cause of a lack of jointness is a misdiagnosis in itself.

Joo Eun-shik, director of the Korea Institute for National Strategy, criticized the plan at a National Assembly policy forum last April, saying, "Jointness is not formed by integrating educational institutions, but is the result of combined military structures, command systems, operational concepts, and officer professionalism," adding that "the failure in personnel management and operations has been misidentified as a problem with the structure of educational institutions."

Kim Se-jin, a senior researcher at the Taejae Future Consensus, also argued that "jointness is built upon professionalism, not integration," claiming that a single education system could undermine the professional expertise of each service given their different operational environments, weapon systems, and doctrines.

Public opinion also appears to be unfavorable toward the government's plan.

In the National Barometer Survey (NBS) conducted by Embrain Public, KIS, Korea Research, and Hankook Research from the 13th to the 15th among 1,000 adults nationwide, 55% opposed the integration of the military academies, while 34% were in favor. The margin of error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

The government maintains that reforming the education system is necessary to train integrated officers capable of responding to future warfare.

On the 16th, the Ministry of National Defense announced it would establish the "Armed Forces Military Academy" in Jaun-dae, Daejeon, to educate approximately 2,900 cadets, and would integrate the faculty, support staff, and facilities currently dispersed across the services. The plan includes combining common education—such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), drones, and quantum technology—with specialized education for each service, and increasing the proportion of civilian professors from the current 24% to over 50%.

The Ministry of National Defense stated it would hold a public hearing next month and release the results of a research project commissioned by the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. As criticism grows regarding the lack of public discourse, it appears the government is initiating formal procedures to gather feedback.

Representative Jang stated, "If the military weakens and the ROK-U.S. alliance is shaken, the only party that will benefit is the Kim Jong-un regime in North Korea," adding, "National security is not an object of ideology, politics, or experimentation. I strongly warn that the military academy integration project must be stopped immediately."