Major General Personnel Changes in Naeju County... The Subject [Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club]

Candidates for Lieutenant General Positions Among Korea Military Academy Classes 48 and 49 (3-4 Officers)
Army Division Commanders of 36th, 37th, 11th, and 53rd Divisions Also Expected to Be Replaced

It is expected that the military general officer personnel reshuffle will take place next week in the first half of this year. The personnel subject to the reshuffle are at the lieutenant general level and below, with a large number of candidates coming from the Korea Military Academy (classes 48 to 52).

The Army, Navy, and Air Force headquarters located at Gyeryongdae in Daejeon.

According to a government official on the 16th, "The military personnel reshuffle for the first half of this year is expected to occur around the 24th to 25th, and the subjects are understood to be at the lieutenant general and major general levels."

The key point of the first half personnel reshuffle is the promotion to lieutenant general. The number of candidates is five to six. Positions such as the Superintendent of the Korea Military Academy, Commander of the Education Command, Commander of the Logistics Command, and commanders of the 3rd, 5th, and 7th Corps are likely to become vacant. Major General Choi Soon-geon (Chief of Logistics Staff, ROK-US Combined Forces Command) from class 48 is eligible for promotion to lieutenant general. Major Generals Kim Su-gwang (Director of Defense Policy, Ministry of National Defense), Kim Heung-jun (Chief of Intelligence and Operations Staff, Army Headquarters), Lee Seung-o (Chief of Operations, Joint Chiefs of Staff), and Choi Sung-jin (Director of Policy, Army Headquarters) from class 49 are also candidates for promotion. While many candidates are from the Korea Military Academy, Major General Park Seong-jae (Commander of the 37th Division), who is not a Korea Military Academy graduate, is also a strong contender.

Major general-level personnel changes will also be made. Commanders of the 36th, 37th, 11th, and 53rd Army Divisions are expected to be replaced. It is anticipated that graduates from class 51, who were promoted in the first round last year, and class 52, who will be promoted in the first round this year, will take these positions.

Within the military, it is expected that among the Korea Military Academy class 47 officers holding key positions, General Son Sik (Commander of the Ground Operations Command) will maintain his post until the personnel reshuffle in the second half of the year. Class 47 entered the academy in 1987 during the Chun Doo-hwan regime, when the Hanahoe faction held peak power, and were commissioned as second lieutenants in 1991. General Son is recognized as an operations expert, having served as a division commander and later as the Special Forces Commanding General. Class 47 also includes Lim Ki-hoon, President of the Korea National Defense University, who served as an administrative officer in the Defense Secretary’s Office during the Park Geun-hye administration and was the first Defense Secretary in the current administration. He was promoted from a term-limited major general to lieutenant general and is known as a policy expert.

Meanwhile, candidates for promotion to lieutenant general in the Navy are from the Korea Naval Academy classes 45 and 46. In the Air Force, candidates are from the Korea Air Force Academy classes 39 and 40, and among them, the inaugural commander of the Strategic Command, scheduled to be established in the second half of this year, may emerge. The legal term of Kim Gye-hwan, Commandant of the Marine Corps, ends this year. Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik has repeatedly emphasized guaranteeing a two-year term for the Marine Corps Commandant, drawing attention to whether there will be a replacement.