New Special Warfare Commander, Capital Defense Commander, Army Chief of Staff, Navy Chief of Staff. Provided by the Ministry of National Defense. 

The Ministry of National Defense announced promotions to Lieutenant General and appointments on the 13th.

A total of 20 generals have been promoted from Major General to Lieutenant General: 14 from the Army, 3 from the Navy, and 3 from the Air Force, making it the largest number in at least the past 10 years.

This is an unprecedented reshuffle aimed at stabilizing military morale following the 'December 12th Emergency Martial Law' and achieving personnel renewal.

In the Army, Han Ki-seong, Jeong Yu-soo, Lee Sang-ryeol, Lee Il-yong, Choi Seong-jin, and Lee Im-soo were promoted from Major General to Lieutenant General and appointed as Corps Commanders.

Park Seong-je and Eo Chang-jun were also promoted to Lieutenant General and appointed as Special Warfare Commander and Capital Defense Commander, respectively. Kwon Hyuk-dong and Kang Gwan-beom were promoted to Lieutenant General and appointed as Missile Strategic Commander and Training Commander, respectively.

The Ministry of National Defense also appointed Park Chun-sik as Logistics Commander, Choi Jang-sik as Army Chief of Staff, Kang Hyun-woo as Joint Chiefs of Staff Director of Operations, and Kim Jong-mook as Chief of Staff of the Ground Operations Command, along with their promotions to Lieutenant General.

In the Navy, Gwak Kwang-seop (Navy Chief of Staff – new positions below), Park Gyu-baek (Superintendent of the Naval Academy), and Kang Dong-gu (Joint Chiefs of Staff Director of Strategic Planning) were promoted from Major General to Lieutenant General. In the Air Force, Kwon Young-min (Training Commander), Kim Jun-ho (Director of Defense Intelligence Agency), and Gu Sang-mo (Joint Chiefs of Staff Director of Military Support) were promoted from Major General to Lieutenant General.

Yeo In-hyeong, former Counter-Intelligence Commander, Lee Jin-woo, former Capital Defense Commander, and Kwak Jong-geun, former Special Warfare Commander, who are on trial for charges including participating in important duties of rebellion, were deemed outside the established quota, and their Lieutenant General positions have been filled. The Ministry of National Defense plans to proceed with disciplinary procedures for these three individuals in the near future.

Previously, in the first military leadership reshuffle of the Lee Jae-myung administration, conducted on September 1st, all seven four-star generals, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army, Navy, and Air Force Chiefs of Staff, the Deputy Commander of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command, and the commanders of the Army's Ground Operations Command and Second Operational Command, were replaced.

At that time, seven three-star generals were promoted to four-star generals, leading to a renewal of the military leadership. Consequently, the scope of the current three-star general appointments has widened.

Out of approximately 30 generals holding the rank of Lieutenant General across the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, with 20 new Lieutenant General promotions this time, about two-thirds have been replaced.

Along with the large-scale Lieutenant General promotions, there have been sequential appointment changes, resulting in a near-complete turnover of Lieutenant General positions.

The Ministry of National Defense explained that this personnel action "has strengthened the diversity of appointments, with the largest number of non-Korea Military Academy graduates promoted in the past 10 years."

The number of non-Korea Military Academy graduates serving as Lieutenant Generals in the Army was three, but it has increased to five with this appointment.

A Ministry of National Defense official stated, "The ratio of Korea Military Academy graduates to non-Korea Military Academy graduates, which was 3.2:1 in the past five years, has changed to 1.8:1 with these appointments."

Lieutenant General Park Seong-je, a graduate of the ROTC program, has been appointed as the Special Warfare Commander, marking the third non-Korea Military Academy graduate to hold this position and the first in eight years since Nam Young-shin in 2017. Lieutenant General Han Ki-seong, the first ROTC officer to be appointed as a Corps Commander, will be responsible for the defense of the Seoul metropolitan area.

The Ministry of National Defense further added, "Another key feature of this personnel action is the realization of diverse specialization by broadly selecting excellent personnel from various fields such as logistics, personnel, and force development, moving away from the existing promotion system that primarily focused on operational specialties, and appointing them to positions like Corps Commander."

A Ministry of National Defense official reported that the proportion of operational specialties among all Army Lieutenant General promotions in the past five years was around 70%, but this has decreased to about 40% in the current appointments.

The absence of a Counter-Intelligence Commander appointment in this Lieutenant General reshuffling is also noteworthy.

It is known that the Ministry of National Defense is considering lowering the rank of the Counter-Intelligence Commander to Major General or Brigadier General as part of a reorganization of the agency.

A Ministry of National Defense official stated that the rank of the Counter-Intelligence Commander is "under discussion" and explained, "Considering the reorganization of the Counter-Intelligence Agency, we did not select a commander this time."

Following the Lieutenant General appointments, the Ministry of National Defense plans to announce promotions and appointments for Major Generals and Brigadier Generals soon.

Yonhap News