Page 103 - 2020 Defence White Paper

Section

5 Education and Training

Focused on Combat Missions

and Strengthening the Spiritual

and Mental Force

With a goal of "fostering strong combatants and combat troops that are capable of Chapter 3
fighting and defeating the enemy", the ROK Armed Forces is carrying out various
activities such as enhancing the school education systems, reinforcing realistic unit
trainings and enhancing the spiritual and mental force of servicemembers. The ROK
Armed Forces seeks to acquire competent personnel to foster competent cadres and
offers a variety of educational programs to nurture creative military professionals.

1. Acquiring Competent Personnel and Fostering Military Professionals

Acquiring Competent With the implementation of Defense Reform 2.0, the
Personnel ROK Armed Forces is being reorganized into an elite
force centered on officers and adopting advanced
weapons systems, increasing the demand for competent cadres. Meanwhile, it is
estimated that acquiring capable cadres will become increasingly challenging as the
number of people wanting to serve as officers or NCOs decreases as the population

eligible for military service continues to decrease and the youth employment rate
increases.
To acquire talents, the ROK Armed Forces has reinforced the professionalism of
servicemembers and are expanding the candidates for long-term service officers so
that more personnel can stably serve in the military. The overall quota of cadres will
be adjusted in a way that reduces the recruitment of new appointees by cutting down
the number of staff sergeants as well as first and second lieutenants while increasing
the number of cadres serving a long-term career as soldiers. By doing so, the ROK
Armed Forces plans to gradually enhance their workforce management system
into a "small-scale acquisition and long-term utilization" system. The system will
lead to the acquisition of competent personnel and the long-term utilization of an
experienced workforce, and will contribute to the enhancement of the ROK Armed
Forces’ combat power.
Additional efforts to acquire competent personnel include the short-term service

Chapter 3. Safeguarding Peace by Establishing a Robust Defense Posture Against Omnidirectional Security Threats 101