Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

President Park Geun-hye emphasized an unshakable alliance between Korea and the U.S. despite any outside hindrances on March 12.

She mentioned that in a congratulatory speech in the 2015 joint commission ceremony for officers of the armed forces held at Gyeryongdae, saying the earlier attack on the U.S. ambassador to Korea, Mark W. Lippert, was an unacceptable assault toward the Korea-U.S. alliance.

 

“The attack, however, serves as a momentum to have a strong trust for each other with a mature reaction and faith. I’d like to ask you to do your best to establish an all-out security posture based on a firmer Korea-U.S. combined defensive system,” said President Park. She also said the alliance between the two countries has been a linchpin of our security for last 70 years, and it will continue to make a contribution to Korean peninsula stability and become a major axis for world peace moving forward.”

“We have a historical responsibility and mission to leave the age of reunified Korea, the real independence, to our future generations, closing the 70-year history of the division. Only if we maintain a thorough military readiness and strong deterrence can we make North Korea change in right way as well as build up the foundation of peaceful unification,” the President continued. She then urged preparation for future security while strengthening the creative defense ability in accordance with changing national defense environments, non-military and/or supranational threats, such as the North’s nuclear test and long-range missile development, territorial issues between countries in the northeast region, various terror and cyber attacks, a large scale of natural disasters, etc.

Meanwhile, the joint commission ceremony is a glorious opening to celebrate a new start and encourage the new officers. This is the fifth ceremony since 2011, and it has been established as a major event of the forces with Armed Forces Day. President Park attended the ceremony three times in a row since her inauguration to celebrate the newly commissioned officers.

A total of 6,478 new officers were commissioned in front of about 21,000 attendees including major figures in the military and government, and families and friends of the commissioned officers. After the commission ceremony, they will complete the officer’s basic course (OBC) and carry out a noble mission of protection of homeland, deployed forwarded and rear. 

Six male and two female soldiers with superior grades – Kim Seung-tae (Korea Military Academy), Jung Woo-seok (Republic of Korea Naval Academy), Kim Ji-yong (Republic of Korea Air Force Academy), Kang Byung-hyun (Korea Army Academy At Yeong-Cheon), Ahn Seong-ho (Navy ROTC), Shin Myung-jin (Air Force ROTC), Jung Ji-eun (Army ROTC) and Kim Hyun-young (Armed Forces Nursing Academy) - received the Presidential prize.

By Joo-Hyeong, Lee <jataka@dema.mil.kr>

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