[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The government carried out the promotion of generals for the second half of the year on the 3rd.
In this personnel appointment, Lieutenant General Yoon Ui-cheol (Korea Military Academy Class 43) was appointed as the Deputy Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lieutenant General Park Joo-kyung (KMA Class 42) as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, and Lieutenant General Jeong Sang-hwa (Air Force Academy Class 36) was appointed as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force (promotion expected). Additionally, Major General So Young-min (Bachelor's Degree Class 11) was appointed as the Commander of the Army Special Warfare Command (promotion expected), and Lieutenant General Kim Jun-sik (Air Force Academy Class 35, photo) was appointed as the Commander of the Air Force Operations Command, according to the Ministry of National Defense.
The Army promoted six officers, including Brigadier Generals Kang Geon-jak, Ahn Byung-seok, Lee Jeong-ung, Jeon Dong-jin, and Jeong Cheol-jae, to Lieutenant General and assigned them as corps commanders. The Secretary for Defense Reform will be held by Lieutenant General Kang Geon-jak, who was promoted. Among these six, two are non-KMA graduates.
For the first time, the KMA Class 45 took command of a corps in this personnel appointment. The Navy promoted two officers, Rear Admirals Kang Dong-hoon and Kim Hyun-il, to Lieutenant General and appointed them as the Commander of the Education Command and Superintendent of the Naval Academy, respectively. Air Force Brigadier General Choi Seong-cheon was promoted to Lieutenant General and appointed as Superintendent of the Air Force Academy.
Following this, 11 Army Brigadier Generals including Kang Ho-pil, 2 Navy Rear Admirals including Kim Seong-hak, and 6 Air Force Brigadier Generals including Kwon Hyuk were promoted to Major General. For the first time, a KMA Class 48 graduate advanced to division commander. Among the 11 Army officers promoted to Major General, three are non-KMA graduates.
Fifty-two Army Colonels including Kang Kyung-hoon and Noh Jae-cheon, 14 Navy Captains including Kang Dong-gu, and 12 Air Force Colonels including Kim Jong-tae were promoted to Brigadier General. Among the 52 Army officers promoted to Brigadier General, 17 are non-KMA graduates.
In the Army, officers from KMA Class 50, commissioned in 1994, received their first stars. This signifies a generational shift from KMA Class 40 to Class 50.
Notably, in this personnel appointment, Brigadier General Noh Jae-cheon (ROTC Class 26), a non-KMA graduate, was selected as the Army's Political Warfare Corps Chief. This is the first time in 29 years since 1991 that an ROTC graduate promoted to Brigadier General has been appointed to this position.
He, who graduated in the same year as KMA Class 44, previously served as the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Public Affairs Office and was fortunate to be promoted just before entering the vocational reporting unit for social advancement education.
In particular, the Ministry of National Defense emphasized that by promoting Major General So Young-min, a bachelor's degree graduate, to Lieutenant General, a corps commander from a bachelor's degree background was produced for the second consecutive year, and by selecting Colonel Jeong Jeong-sook (Infantry) as Brigadier General, the trend of expanding female personnel participation was maintained.
The Ministry of National Defense added, "We selected many personnel who served diligently and faithfully until the end in their assigned positions," and "We will continue to actively implement fair and balanced personnel appointments so that outstanding individuals are promoted regardless of their background, gender, or specialty."
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