Cadets shout a resolution to protect the nation at the integrated commissioning ceremony for the Army, Navy, and Air Force academies held at the Gyeryongdae parade ground in South Chungcheong Province on February 20 of this year. [Photo=Yonhap News]

The clock of South Korean national defense is ticking backward. Counterintelligence and intelligence agencies, which require integration, are being separated, causing "tong-bun" (deep resentment and indignation). Conversely, education at military academies, which should be separated by service to foster specialized expertise, is being forcibly integrated, causing "bun-tong" (frustration and anger). This irrational dismantling and forced regressive reform are inciting "bi-bun-gang-gae" (righteous indignation and deep sorrow).

Intelligence assets should be integrated and their operation strengthened to rapidly fuse fragmented information for timely decision-making. Yet, the current Ministry of National Defense is instead showing moves to "destroy intelligence organizations" through separation and dismantling. Conversely, it is rushing to "integrate" military academy education—which requires separate, specialized training for each service—under the pretext of "jointness." 

Are they experimenting with and using the military for political purposes without understanding military common sense, military doctrine, and the principles of war? The actions, which destroy the military's identity and the traditions of each service, are beyond appalling; they have reached a point where one cannot live with a sane mind. 

They remain silent about North Korea's various provocations and the construction of tactical roads along the Military Demarcation Line, while inciting indignation by pushing for the revival of the surrender-level 9·19 Military Agreement and the transfer of Wartime Operational Control (OPCON), which signifies the dissolution of the ROK-U.S. alliance. Is this a security blunder caused by politics? A self-contradiction? Or an act of treason under a spell? We are witnessing a truly incomprehensible phenomenon. 

1. Tong-bun (Separating what needs to be integrated): The fragmentation of intelligence organizations 

The outcome of modern warfare depends on how quickly fragmented information can be fused to enable timely decision-making and connectivity. Even looking at major intelligence-advanced nations (such as the U.S., U.K., and Israel), while they separate agencies by domestic security, foreign intelligence, and technical intelligence, they operate a powerful control tower that "integrates these at the national level." They collect intelligence by function, but handle production through a single window.

On the other hand, our military is "cutting" intelligence functions not for the sake of specialization, but under the political pretext of checking power. The Ministry of National Defense claims it will strengthen the independence of the Defense Intelligence Agency by ending the concurrent position of the Defense Intelligence Agency Chief as the JCS Intelligence Chief by 2027, and adjust the command relationships of subordinate intelligence units to increase efficiency.

Citing political neutrality and democratic control, the Ministry of National Defense is dismantling the Defense Counterintelligence Command after 49 years and creating a three-way system—the Defense Counterintelligence Headquarters (counterintelligence/defense industry intelligence), the Defense Security Support Group (central security audit/investigation), and the existing Defense Investigation Agency (security investigations/joint investigations during martial law). By implementing such massive organizational restructuring to establish mutual checks and distribute power, they will leave counterintelligence veterans without positions starting this August, and we will see experimental organizations never before seen.

This is not the specialization of functions, but the fragmentation of intelligence assets. It will lead to regression, increasing redundant intelligence collection while degrading essential comprehensive analysis capabilities. This "tong-bun"—separating counterintelligence and intelligence agencies that need to be "integrated"—is a dangerous attempt that impairs overall judgment and, consequently, blinds and deafens commanders. It is an act of betrayal that destroys national security.

2. Bun-tong (Integrating what needs to be separated): The forced integration of military academy education 

The move to integrate the three military academies—where inheriting the military's identity and traditions is crucial—under the pretext of "jointness" is self-contradictory. The battlefield environments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force are fundamentally different. 

Each military academy should be a cradle for cultivating leadership and tactical literacy tailored to that specific service. Forcing uniformity through "integration" at academies that should provide independent and specialized education based on the uniqueness of each branch looks like a prelude to creating a party military, similar to those in communist countries.

The integration of military academies not only lowers the quality of education but also triggers conflict. Are they suggesting that the more than 80% of general officers who did not receive integrated education lack "jointness" from birth and should therefore be blocked from advancing to field-grade officer positions? Inconsistent and artificial discrimination breeds hatred. 

The reckless remark by the Chairman of the National Assembly National Defense Committee, who hinted that "if they were seeking revenge, they would have torn apart the KMA (Korea Military Academy)," revealed the current ruling party’s shallow perception of the military. 

The political idea of confining officers who will shoulder the future of the military into a uniform mold will ultimately weaken the intellectual capacity of our military. It is difficult to avoid criticism that this is a "destruction of organization" mindset, where political intent to use the military as a tool precedes the essence of cultivating professional talent to lead future battlefields, which also runs counter to civilian control.

3. Bi-bun-gang-gae (Irrational dismantling and forced regressive reform)

Security is neither the spoils of a regime nor the property of a specific political party. It is the realm of survival for all citizens who breathe. The current government should abandon its obsession with doing whatever it pleases, as if security were merely spoils of the regime. Remaining silent on enemy provocations while preaching peace, rushing to revive the surrender-level 9·19 Military Agreement, and pushing for the transfer of wartime OPCON, which implies the dismantling of the ROK-U.S. alliance, are acts of treason. 

The "outsourcing of security"—rushing to drastically reduce GOP personnel while relying on unproven AI-based scientific surveillance systems and entrusting guard duties to private security firms—is an irresponsible act of separating the state's monopoly on physical force from the military. This is a dangerous gamble that turns national security into an "experimental space." 

Whose idea was it to dismantle and downsize the Drone Command, which weakens drone power—a core element of modern warfare—while claiming to prepare for future wars? This is an act contrary to building a high-tech science and technology-based military, and a strategic suicide that would castrate cutting-edge military capabilities. 

National defense can no longer be an experimental ground for irresponsible politics. Security is not the spoils of a regime; it is the asset of all citizens, upon which national survival depends. 

The government must immediately stop all regressive reforms that undermine security and scrap the military academy integration policy that 75% of the public opposes. I hope they will focus on keeping a close watch on the enemy, restoring the alliance, and investing the budget needed for "integration" into improving the morale, welfare, and treatment of officers, as well as refining the military force management system.

◆ Commissioner Park Pil-kyu

Editorial Writer, Korea-US Ilbo

40th Graduate, Korea Military Academy