The Korea Herald

피터빈트

Korean Army eyeing to launch committee to chart its future

By 임정요

Published : June 21, 2016 - 11:56

    • Link copied

The Army will soon launch a committee tasked with drawing up a master plan to proactively deal with future security risks, the Army chief of staff said Tuesday.

South Korean senior military leaders have studied the U.S. National Commission on the Future of the Army, set up last year by Congress to study the future force and structure of the U.S. Army, as part of efforts to put the envisioned Future Committee in motion.

The committee is called upon to establish the master plan based on socio-political changes, shifts in international relations, and even weapons systems to be built for the future.

"We will launch the Future Committee in the near future to come up with the master plan and push ahead with defense reforms," Army Chief of Staff Gen. Jang Jun-gyu said during an Army forum.


The Army is expected to outline details on the objectives, organization and timetable of the committee by early next month before preparing for its launch, said a senior official at the Army.

Policymakers at the Army are proposing that retired generals and outside experts as well as active servicemen take part in the committee.

The committee, if launched, is to devise a slew of appropriate measures to be taken against a variety of security concerns involving the Korean Peninsula down the road.

Many senior Army officials said the Army chief has been toying with the idea of launching the commission since visiting the Arlington, Virgina-based U.S. commission in April as part of his trip to the United States.

The NCFA, headed by Retired Gen. Carter Ham, conducts a comprehensive study of the roles and structure of the U.S. Army and policy assumptions related to the size and force mixture of the Army. (Yonhap)