▲ Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back (C) and Rep. Han Byung-do (R), the acting leader of the ruling Democratic Party, attend a consultative meeting at the National Assembly on July 16, 2026, to discuss the establishment of an integrated military academy for the Army, Navy and Air Force. (Yonhap)
▲ This image, provided by the defense ministry on July 16, 2026, shows a graphic rendering of the proposed National Military Academy compound. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

(ATTN: ADDS details in paras 14-19, 23-26, photo)

By Yi Wonju and Kim Seung-yeon

SEOUL, July 16 (Yonhap) -- The government and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Thursday agreed to swiftly push ahead with the establishment of an integrated military academy of the Army, Navy and Air Force, a move they say would sharply enhance their country's defense capabilities in the fast-changing environment.

The government and the DP announced during a policy consultation meeting at the National Assembly that the envisioned academy will be established at Jaundae, a compound of military training and education facilities in Daejeon, about 140 kilometers south of Seoul.

"The National Military Academy will adopt an academic system that provides autonomy and maximizes each cadet's potential," Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said during a briefing after the meeting.

"It will be located in the heart of the country's science and technology sector, with an exceptional intellectual environment that includes universities such as the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, as well as the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute," he added.

"Unfortunately, the current system of having separate academies of the Army, Navy and Air Force faces a number of practical limitations," Rep. Han Byung-do, the acting leader of the DP, said at the start of the government-ruling party meeting.

Rep. Han said setting up the unified academy to train future defense leaders is a "task that can no longer be put off," stressing that the DP will spare no effort to help develop the institution into a world-class military academy.

The move comes as President Lee Jae Myung's government has been seeking to unify the military academies into a single institution as part of efforts to pool talented future cadets amid the country's demographic decline and to better respond to evolving warfare.

The push for the tentative "National Military Academy," however, may be headed for a rocky road as it faces fierce backlash from the armed services and veterans groups that have urged the government to scrap the initiative, arguing that a combined institution would undermine overall operational readiness.

The defense ministry has cited the rapid expansion of modern warfare into space, cyber and electromagnetic domains as a key reason to reform military education.

"Accordingly, the military academy must transform into a system that can prepare future officers for all-domain warfare," Ahn told the briefing.

The defense minister also stressed the need for the integration of the academies to make the South Korean military "ready" to lead the combined forces once the country retakes wartime operational control (OPCON) from the United States.

"The officers must be ready to play a leading role in guiding the ROK-U.S. combined defense system following the OPCON transfer," he added.

The ministry is reportedly considering providing a four-year education program at the new military academy while offering cadets courses focused on training specific to their respective branches in their final years.

It plans to increase the total enrollment quota from the current level of about 730 cadets -- 330 from the Army, 230 from the Air Force and 170 from the Navy.

Detailed plans for the integration will be announced in October, following public hearings and opinion-gathering from interested parties, a defense ministry official told reporters.

The ministry plans to turn the 2.4 square-kilometer Jaundae complex into a "hub" for national defense education over the long haul, starting with the establishment of the combined military academy.

Other related institutions, such as the military nursing academy and the advanced defense technology academy, will be consolidated in phases.

"We seek to integrate institutions like the Joint Forces Military University and its graduate school to turn the site into a 'mecca' for national defense training," the ministry official said.

As part of the structural reform of the military education programs, the government said it will raise the proportion of civilian professors at the new academy to at least 50 percent and create a dedicated task force to oversee the establishment of the academy and accelerate reform in defense education.

Ahn called the initiative a "quantum-leap" innovation aimed at building a "state-of-the-art" military academy.

"It is about creating a larger vessel to nurture the national talent of tomorrow," he said.

The alumni associations of the Army, Navy and Air Force academies reiterated their objection to the plan, calling it a "scheme to destroy the history, traditions and the unique identities" of each military institution.

"The government is trying to shut down the existing academies when the reform could be achieved through facility investments, organizational restructuring and other changes," the associations said in a joint press release.

In particular, they accused the government of taking a "politically motivated" step to "retaliate" against the Army, apparently referring to the Army's involvement in the failed martial law attempt by former President Yoon Suk Yeol in December 2024 and its role in key military coups in the past.

"We will mobilize every available means to launch a nationwide protest, together with the citizens," they said.

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