Page 51 - 2018 Defense White Paper

rights and welfare f it for a developed country, the public conf idence towards the government

has diminished due to the ROK Armed Forces’ previous involvement in politics and the cases
of corruption in the defense industry. Another challenge is an active response to the changes of
future battlef ields set off by scientif ic and technological advancements in the era of the Fourth

Industrial Revolution.
Chapter 2
To initiate the actions and respond to these security threats while overcoming the factors
restricting policy implementation, Korea urgently needs to develop special measures that

distinguish themselves from the efforts for national defense development in the past.
The need for aforementioned changes has been pointed out multiple times in the past. The
ROK Armed Forces has been pursuing national defense reform since establishing the National

Defense Reform 2020 and the National Defense Reform Act in 2006 and later revising the plan
under every new administration. However, the plan lost its momentum due to repeated delay
and obstacles.
Based on the consensus that the defense reform is an imperative of the people and the duty of

our times, the ROK Armed Forces sets out to establish a new, executable plan through in-depth
deliberation on the past and the lessons learned from previous efforts.

| Distinguishing Features | With the consensus on its urgency in our mind, Defense Reform
2.0 was drafted to distinguish itself from the previous plans in its emphasis on the actual
execution.

First, the plan was established in the early stage of the new administration to secure the
momentum for implementation. The National Defense Reform 2020 of 2006 was completed
in less than one and a half year until the end of the incumbent administration’s term, which

created difficulties for creating the momentum for the plan’s execution. Learning from this, the
ROK Armed Forces established the Defense Reform 2.0 plan in less than a year after the launch
of the current administration to maintain the momentum of the implementation.

Second, as previously mentioned, the financial support for national defense is expected to
be limited in the future. For this reason, the ROK Armed Forces accounted for the budget
requirement for the force buildup, which constitutes a core part of the national defense reform in

the 2019–2023 Midterm National Defense Plan to maintain the drive for the reform. In addition,
the Defense Reform 2.0 was designed to minimize the budget requirement by enhancing the
eff iciency of defense operation and innovating human resource management.

Section 3 Defense Reform 2.0 49