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Military authorities are looking at plans to make Korea¡¯s personnel-intensive armed forces leaner and more technology-based including cuts in manpower from 681,000 to about 500,000 in 2020. The plan is influenced by budgetary pressure, a shrinking pool of human resources and a global trend toward personnel cuts, a high-ranking military official said Monday.
The Defense Ministry is already seeking a 40,000-man reduction by 2008, to which the plan would add another 150,000 between then and 2020. Military authorities could also revive plans to streamline command structure that would merge commands and set up a central command for land operation first floated as part of President Kim Dae-jung's military reform proposal in 1998 but later shelved.
The plans are likely to reduce the standing Army from 550,000 to 350,000-400,000.
The plans could be enshrined in a bill the Defense Ministry is considering but which is likely to meet opposition as long as a threat from North Korea¡¯s million-man Army continues to exist and inter-Korean relations remain tentative. Defense authorities are asking for a budget amounting to 2.7 percent of GDP for the time being to minimize the impact of manpower cuts on Korea¡¯s defense readiness. The Defense Ministry wants to hear from military personnel and brass before talking to Cheong Wa Dae and preparing a concrete proposal in August or September.
However, a Defense Ministry official said the ministry was considering defense reform ¡°from many angles¡± and nothing had been decided.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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