Reserve Officers' Training Corps (South Korea)

Reserve Officers' Training Corps (Hangul: 학생군사교육단; Hanja: 學軍士官) in South Korea is a college-based officer training program which was established in 1961. South Korea's Conscription Law applies to males, aged between 18 and 35, although women are allowed to enroll in the ROTC as of 2010.

Applicants to the ROTC program go through a screening process; a written exam, an interview and health examination, and a background check. Once accepted, members undergo physical and military education throughout the semester; they are also required to undergo actual military training during school holidays. After commissioning, they serve for two and a half years; an individual may choose to extend his or her service past the required period in pursuit of an active military career.

History

Background of creation

South Korea's first school corps was born in the Navy. In the case of the Navy, on March 11, 1959, the first school group of the 3rd Army was launched by establishing the Naval Busan Military Education Group (Navy 1001st Student Military Education Group) at Korea Maritime University. The reason why the Naval School Corps was established at the Maritime University is deeply related to the nature and purpose of the school's establishment. The Korea Maritime University was a member of the Ministry of National Defense from 1947 to 1949, and on October 17, 1958, the Naval Reserve Order (Presidential Decree No. 1935) was promulgated and implemented, resembling the Sangseon Academy, where all students were candidates for the school. Over time, there have been several changes to the relevant military service law, and now the selective school group and the boarding service reserve system are in place together. The Marine University's Naval School Corps system was implemented to allow commercial officers (ship's navigators/engineers) and students at the Marine University who train national shipping personnel to work on board commercial ships immediately after graduation. Therefore, students had to complete military science and military training as well as their majors during their enrollment, and the graduation ceremony was held as an appointment ceremony. Most of the graduates were commissioned as second lieutenants and discharged from the military, serving in merchant ships as naval reserves. Some of the graduates served as active naval officers. It can be said to be a system for efficient manpower management for commercial officers who contribute to the national economy through maritime transport in peacetime and are responsible for military service at sea as naval reserves in wartime.

In the case of the Army, in the early 1960s, the government of the Republic of Korea at that time was in a desperate position to increase military power urgently in the face of confrontation between the two Koreas. As part of this, the school military officer system was established to solve the most serious problem in the military command system at the time by selecting college students for military education and commissioning them as officers upon graduation. This has the advantage of increasing standing power [2] by recruiting elite resources with expertise in each major field after graduating from college in a short period of time, and by incorporating them as reserve forces commanders after active service. In addition, school military officers were able to significantly reduce the burden of the budget for training education compared to the military academy, which was educated for four years.

• Naval School Corps: Korea Maritime University, 11 March 1959.

• Air Force School Corps: Korea Air Force 1971.

• Women's college group: Sookmyung Women's University in 2010.

Changes in Name and System

At the same time as the establishment of the Student Military Training Corps on June 1, 1961, the Army Headquarters decided to enact the unit symbol of the Student Corps in order to unify the unit symbol of the Student Corps and enhance the pride and dignity of ROTC candidates. As a result of collecting opinions from each academy, the ROTC English letter was finally decided to imitate the ROTC insignia design used at universities in the United States at the time, and each academy was required to attach the above insignia to the upper arm of ROTC candidates' uniforms. From the 5th generation, the white insignia "Hakhundan", which stands for the Student Military Training Group, was used on a shield-shaped blue background to establish the spirit of self-defense and national identity.

The term "reserve officer training group" or "reserve officer candidate" was initially designated in consideration of the nature of the system that required him to serve in the military after being appointed as a reserve officer. However, the ROTC system, an officer training course, was managed as a reserve, and not only did it not sound good in terms of title, but it was also complicated to order a supplementary summons for all officers and peacetime to serve in the military.

Thus, in 1983, the candidate status was decided as the first national role in consideration of the relationship between the number of military units, salaries and allowances, restrictions on the application of military laws and disciplinary action, and the possibility of a problem with the university. According to the revision of the Military Service Act, the name of the candidate was changed from a reserve officer candidate to a school officer candidate, and during the candidate period, the "school officer candidate" Lim Kwan-si maintained consistency such as "school officer from school."

Statistics on school district officers

As of 2017, the school military officer system produced about 190,000 officers, 52 generals, including 6 generals by the 10th, and 215 colonel by the 17th, and about 20 out of 20,000 active military officers.

Not only the military but also at all levels of society, it forms a huge network of school district officers as leaders.

Results of a survey of 100,000 members by the ROTC Central Association (2008)

• 2,145 people in the legislative and administrative fields (former police chief, etc.)

• Political circles (17 lawmakers, etc.) 1,001

• 915 people in the media (more than 60 people at the director level)

• 3,217 professors (8 university presidents = Lee Jang-moo, president of Seoul National University, Son Byung-doo, president of Sogang University, Hwang Joon-sung, president of Soongsil University, Jang Ho-sung, president of Dankook University, Yoo Byung-jin, etc.), 4,521 teachers

• 10,000 business executives (34.8%, SK Telecom Honorary Chairman Son Kil-seung, Lee Young-joo, Iljin Group Chairman Huh Jin-kyu, Unix Electronics Chairman Lee Choong-koo, Samsung President Kang Sung-won, Hanadok Pharmaceutical Chairman Kim Young-jin, Daelim C&S CEO Hwang Ho-rim, CEO Lee Wang-don, CEO of Daejeon Poly

• Entertainment industry (actor Ahn Sung-ki (Korea University), comedian Lee Sang-yong (Korea University), actor Joo-hyun (Konkuk University), singer Marvel J (Kyunghee University), etc.)

It has been shown that is engaged in.

However, while the military service period continues to be reduced, the service period of school military officers continues to be fixed, and for this reason, the 61st school district (commissioned officer in 2023) candidates were not enough.[4] In Korea, the shorter the military service period, the higher the preference. Therefore, in the case of noncommissioned officers, they do not apply if they are not working as professional soldiers, so the number of active service personnel is similar to that of officers and noncommissioned officers, but the number of reserve officers is remarkably small. In 1997, when the 35th class was commissioned as a lieutenant, 28 months of military service and 26 months of military service, and considering that if an officer is commissioned as a lieutenant, he or she is required to train for four more months. For this reason, the popularity of school military officers who serve for six more months has waned.

Impact on South Korean society

It was estimated by a Library of Congress research in 1990 that approximately 40% of new second lieutenants were commissioned from the ROTC program after two years of training and two years and three months of obligatory service; most would leave the service after the obligatory period. The Korea Army Academy at Yeongcheon produced another 40% of new second lieutenants; 5% were graduates of various military academies and 15% were directly commissioned specialists in the medical corps, judge advocates and chaplains. It has been postulated that the ROTC program in South Korea has contributed to national integration and cultural homogeneity, where military training had become a common cultural and organizational reference point; military officers became business managers and military conscripts became factory workers. A case in point would be Hyundai, which systematically preferred workers who had undergone ROTC training.

In 2011, South Korea had 9,063 ROTC cadets from 109 universities.

Evaluation

Until the establishment of ROTC, the military training program lacked consistency in its implementation plans, the lack of operational constraints and administrative support of senior officers, and the purpose of receiving indifference and military training by students with a higher degree of service and expense. However, the establishment of a ROTC was able to solve all problems, efficiently carry out the training procedures of junior officers, and smoothly fill up the junior officers.

Characteristics

In the case of the Army School Corps, if you become a fourth-grade candidate, you will have a chance to switch to the Marine Corps. If you switch to the Marine Corps, your service period will be reduced by four months. The school corps, which was originally established as a Marine Corps, is applied from the beginning, and the service period is similarly short from the beginning.

He is the only officer in the commission process to live outside the military. The military academy lives in the compound for four or two years (5), and the academic and executive officers also live in the compound. During the semester, only military science courses that take seven more hours per week are completed, and basic military training is provided for four weeks every vacation.

Problem

Past problem

When academic officers existed in the second half of the year, school district officers were also problematic because of the widespread abuse of beatings and abuse against academic officers in the second half of the year. In particular, taking advantage of the fact that academic officers are commissioned several months later than other officers commissioned in the same year, small and medium-sized officers from the past have exercised coercive hierarchies and abused them. This is a problem only for school military officers who serve short and discharged, and unlike school military officers, the Army Academy and the Army 3rd Military Academy must serve for at least five years, so if you act like a platoon commander, it becomes difficult when you are a captain. In particular, in the case of the Korea Military Academy, which serves in the military for the rest of its life, it becomes difficult to enter the military as a consular officer if it acts like this. It is only possible for school military officers who can serve short and run away quickly.

For reference, unlike soldiers and noncommissioned officers, officers have a lot of command positions, and by the time they reach lieutenant colonel, they do not know who will be promoted first, so hobong cannot be ranked, and only rank is recognized as ranking. If an officer recognizes Hobong as a rank like a soldier or a noncommissioned officer, it is highly likely that a senior battalion commander who is not promoted will protest to a junior regiment commander who was promoted first, which will make the military command system very disturbed. For example, in the case of General Kang Sung-jak (45th Army), there are still a number of Major General Kang Sung-jak, who are senior flag bearers, and if officers are ranked by Hobong, not by rank, General Kang Sung-jak is likely to be protested by senior major general even though he is a lieutenant general. Therefore, when an officer becomes the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he becomes the highest person in the military, no matter how low his salary is. For this reason, it is customary for air force general-level officers to discharge all senior and fellow lieutenants when their juniors are promoted to general, and due to this custom, Won-cheol was inaugurated as Air Force Chief of Staff to prevent a large number of air force Lt. Gen.

Present problem

There are four major problems with school district officers due to their structural defects.

First, it is the only district selection process among all officer commission processes. Not to mention each military academy, the Army 3rd Military Academy, the Bachelor's Officer, and the Short-Term Noncommissioned Officer are all selected from the national constituency, so they cannot pass unless they reach a certain level. However, school district officers are selected only within the university because they are selected by regional districts, not by national districts, and for this reason, officers with suspected qualifications are appointed in the case of the Jijab University School Corps. Of course, due to these problems, the head of the school district is a lieutenant colonel in the case of the Jijab University School District. In the aftermath of a sharp drop in the number of applicants for school district officers in 2022, some prestigious university heads were demoted to lieutenant colonel. Originally, a school district officer must have a B or higher to apply, but it is true that not only B but also higher A's in Jijab University are lower than C's in prestigious universities. Due to this blind spot, poor officers continue to be mass-produced in the school district. According to the "List of Student Military Education Groups" below, the school groups that were lost due to the closure of schools are these school groups at Jijab University, and the officers produced from them cannot guarantee their qualifications. This is because the qualification for applying for officers is more than graduating from a university, but Jijab University cannot serve as a university at all.

Second, it is the only system that conducts extraterritorial training among all training courses of the Korean Armed Forces. For this reason, it is common for fourth-grade candidates to gather third-grade candidates without the knowledge of the disciplinary officer, and there is also a military absurdity. The 3rd and 4th grade cadets of each military academy are essentially different from the 4th grade candidates of the school district officer because they are the number of people moving under the control of the instructor. In the end, there is a big problem that even though he is a soldier, he is not excessively controlled.

Third, despite having the largest number of people, the service period is the shortest. Short service periods continue to cause command gaps. For example, a platoon leader of the Korea Military Academy, a bachelor's officer, and a school military officer serves in one company, and since it is a principle to serve only one year as a platoon leader, he is transferred to another unit and becomes an aide after a year. The rank of Bachelor of Arts is already captain. With this class, you can no longer serve as a platoon leader and join the Captain Command and Staff Course. School military officers are discharged from the military because their mandatory service period has expired. If this happens, the company will have 0 platoon leaders, and all three platoon leaders will have a lot of difficulties in their work because they are new platoon leaders. As a way to compensate for this problem, it can be solved by reducing the number of school district officers to some extent [6] and introducing a "combat command completion officer" system that promotes outstanding noncommissioned officers to the rank of platoon leader. When appointed, a combat commander is a system in which he becomes a platoon commander in a division different from the division where he served as a noncommissioned officer and serves as a platoon commander for more than 20 years. In addition, the introduction of the combat command quasi-commissioned officer system has another advantage of resolving the personnel deficit of officers because fewer lieutenants are commissioned.

Fourth, the number of applicants is decreasing every year because it acts as a negative factor for employment. In large companies, the door to employment is becoming narrower for officers who have graduated from college for at least two years as they are hired as new employees within six to 12 months of college or only those who are scheduled to graduate from college. As a result, graduates of prestigious universities are increasingly avoiding school district officers, so some universities are reducing their quota from colonel-level school districts (more than 50 per rider) to lieutenant-colonel-level school districts (about 15 per rider).

List of student military education groups

Army

The following is a list of universities with the Army Student Military Education Corps. It is in single order, and the area followed the classification of student military schools.[7] The year of installation was based on the year of promotion or installation after being officially granted a single number, not in the form of division.

School District Number	School name	territory	Year of installation	note
101	Seoul national university	the west of Seoul	1961
102	Korea university	Eastern Seoul	1961
103	Sungkyunkwan University	Eastern Seoul	1961	Humanities and Social Sciences Campus
1031		Northern Gyeonggi-do Province	1980	Natural Science Campus
104	결번
105	Chonnam National University	Honam region	1961	Gwangju Campus
1051				Yeosu Campus
106	Chonbuk National University	Honam region	1961
107	Yonsei University	the west of Seoul	1961
108	Kyung Hee University	Eastern Seoul	1961	Seoul Campus
1081		Northern Gyeonggi-do Province		International Campus
109	Kyungpook National University	Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province	1961
110	Busan National University	Busan, South Gyeongsang Province	1961
111	Chung-Ang University	the west of Seoul	1961	Seoul Campus
1111		southern part of Gyeonggi-do Province	1980	Anseong Campus
112	Dongguk University	the west of Seoul	1961
113	Konkuk University	Eastern Seoul	1961
114	결번
115	Hanyang University	Eastern Seoul	1961
116	Chungnam National University	South Chungcheong Province	1961
117	Dong-A University	Busan, South Gyeongsang Province	1961
118	Chosun University	Honam region	1961
119	Hankuk University of Foreign Studies	Eastern Seoul
120	Inha University	Northern Gyeonggi-do Province
121	Yeungnam University	Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province
122	Kyunggi University	southern part of Gyeonggi-do Province
123	Chungbuk National University	North Chungcheong Province
124	결번
125	Dankook University	southern part of Gyeonggi-do Province	1965	Jukjeon Campus
1251			1980	Cheonan Campus
126	Gyeongsang National University	Busan, South Gyeongsang Province
127	Kangwon National University	Gangwon Province	1966
128	Wonkwang University	Honam region
129	Kookmin University	the west of Seoul
130	Myongji University	Northern Gyeonggi-do Province	1970
131	Sogang University	the west of Seoul
132	Incheon National University	Northern Gyeonggi-do Province
133	Hongik University	the west of Seoul	1972	Seoul Campus
1331		North Chungcheong Province	1991	Sejong Campus
134	결번
135	Gongju National University	South Chungcheong Province	1974
136	Soongsil University	the west of Seoul
137	Cheongju University	North Chungcheong Province
138	Keimyung University	Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province	1977
139	Ajou University	southern part of Gyeonggi-do Province	1978
140	University of Ulsan	Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province
141	Kyungnam University	Busan, South Gyeongsang Province	1976
142	Kwangwoon University	Eastern Seoul	1980
143	University of Seoul	Eastern Seoul	1980
144	Jeonju University	Honam region
145	Daegu University	Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province
146	Hannam University	South Chungcheong Province
147	Catholic Kwandong University	Gangwon Province	1981
148	Dongui University	Busan, South Gyeongsang Province
149	Kyungsung University	Busan, South Gyeongsang Province
150	Korea National University of Education	North Chungcheong Province
151	Gachon University	Northern Gyeonggi-do Province	1985
152	Geumo University of Technology	Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province
153	Wooseok University	South Chungcheong Province
154	결번
155	Kunsan University	Honam region
156	Sangji University	Gangwon Province	1992
157	Pukyong National University	Busan, South Gyeongsang Province	1992
158	Suwon University	southern part of Gyeonggi-do Province
159	Soonchun National University	Honam region
160	Mokpo National University	Honam region
161	Andong University	Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province
162	Sejong University	Eastern Seoul
163	Gangneung-Wonju National University	Gangwon Province	1992
164	결번
165	Changwon University	Busan, South Gyeongsang Province
166	Hoseo University	North Chungcheong Province
167	Soonchunhyang University	North Chungcheong Province
168	Daejeon National University	South Chungcheong Province
169	Mokwon University	South Chungcheong Province
170	Baejae University	South Chungcheong Province	1992
171	Hallym University	Gangwon Province	1992
172	Dongshin University	Honam region
173	Inje University	Busan, South Gyeongsang Province	1992
174	결번
175	교육단 폐지(서울교육대학교, 2015)
176	Kyungin National University of Education	Northern Gyeonggi-do Province	1992
177	교육단 폐지(대구교육대학교, 2015)
178	교육단 폐지(부산교육대학교, 2015)
179	교육단 폐지(광주교육대학교, 2015)
180	교육단 폐지(춘천교육대학교, 2021)
181	교육단 폐지(진주교육대학교, 2015)
182	폐교로 인한 교육단 폐지(서남대학교, 2018)
183	Semyung University	Gangwon Province	1993
184	결번
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193	Honam University	Honam region
194	결번
195	Seowon University	North Chungcheong Province
196	Hansung University	Eastern Seoul
197	결번
198
199	Pusan National University of Foreign Studies	Busan, South Gyeongsang Province
200	Konyang University	South Chungcheong Province	2005
201	Seoul National University of Science and Technology	Eastern Seoul	2006
202	Sangmyung University	the west of Seoul		Seoul Campus
2021		North Chungcheong Province		Cheonan Campus
203	Yong In University	southern part of Gyeonggi-do Province
204	결번
205	Gangnam University	Northern Gyeonggi-do Province
206	Seokyung University	the west of Seoul	2007
207	Catholic University of Korea	Northern Gyeonggi-do Province
208	Daejin University	Gangwon Province
209	Baekseok University	South Chungcheong Province	2007
210	Hanbat University	South Chungcheong Province	2006
211	Sunmoon University	North Chungcheong Province	2006
212	Daegu Catholic University	Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province
213	Dongyang University	Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province	2007
214	결번
215	Dongmyeong University	Busan, South Gyeongsang Province
216	Pyeongtaek University	southern part of Gyeonggi-do Province
217	Sookmyung Women's University	the west of Seoul	2010	First time at a women's university
218	Sungshin Women's University	Eastern Seoul
219	폐교로 인한 교육단 폐지(경남과학기술대학교, 2021)
220	Kyungdong University	Gangwon Province	2012
221	Gwangju National University	Honam region
222	South Seoul National University	southern part of Gyeonggi-do Province
223	Woosong University	South Chungcheong Province
224	결번
225	Ewha Women's University	the west of Seoul	2016
1021	Korea University Sejong Campus	North Chungcheong Province
1071	Yonsei University Future Campus	Gangwon Province
1121	Dongguk University WISE Campus	Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province
1131	Konkuk University Glocal Campus	Gangwon Province
1151	Hanyang University ERICA Campus	Northern Gyeonggi-do Province

Navy and Marine

School District Number	School name	territory	Year of installation	note
1001	Korea Maritime University	(구분 없음)		Marine Corps support available
1002	Jeju National University
1003	Pukyong National University		1973
2002	Mokpo National Maritime University
1004				Marine Corps support available

Air force

School District Number	School name	territory	Year of installation	note
1	Korea National Aviation University	(구분 없음)
2	Hanseo University
3	Korea National University of Transportation		2013
4	Seoul National University of Science and Technology
5	Gyeongsang National University
6	Sookmyung Women's University
7	Yonsei University

Abolished school district

• Seoul National University of Education - 175th Student Military Education Group (abolished in 2015 / plans to support candidates, insufficient student interest, etc.)

• Daegu National University of Education - 177th Student Military Education Group (abolished in 2015 / plans to support candidates, insufficient student interest, etc.)

• Busan National University of Education - 178th Student Military Education Group (abolished in 2015 / plans to support candidates, insufficient student interest, etc.)

• Gwangju National University of Education - 179th Student Military Education Group (abolished in 2015 / plans to support candidates, insufficient student interest, etc.)

• Jinju National University of Education - 181st Student Military Education Group (abolished in 2015 / plans to support candidates, insufficient student interest, etc.)

• Seonam University - 182nd Student Military Education Group (abolished in 2018 / closed school)

• Chuncheon National University of Education - 180th Student Military Education Group (abolished in 2021 / plans to support candidates, insufficient student interest, etc.)

Instance of a foreign country

Except for Korea, only a few countries, such as the United States and India, operate the school district officer system, and most of them do not.

The United States

It operates the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and must be from the Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) for minors. The Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) is trained from elementary school and mainly studies formal training or war history, but does not provide direct military training. In the case of the Reserve Officers Training Group (ROTC), when a former minor Reserve Officers Training Group (JROTC) goes to college, they train from the first grade of college and train for four years.

The number of U.S. school officers commissioned as second lieutenant is the same as Green To Gold, but like most master officers, they are discharged as reserve at the same time as the so-called commissioned officers and are placed on active duty only as many as 5% and as little as 1-2%.

If any of the people who have been discharged from the U.S. due to the expiration of military service are second lieutenant in the military service, it is safe to say that they are 100% from ROTC. Unlike the Korean Armed Forces, the U.S. military must be commissioned as a lieutenant and then serve two years on active duty to be promoted to lieutenant, but since it usually serves for more than three years, non-ROTC personnel are discharged at least as lieutenant. This is consistent with pre-training the personnel to be conscripted as officers, which is the original meaning of ROTC.

Ties with United States ROTC

Cadets of the United States Reserve Officers' Training Corps routinely collaborate with their South Korean counterparts in cultural exchanges such as the Cultural Understanding and Language Proficiency (CULP) program.

See also

• Reserve Officers' Training Corps
• Reserve Officers' Training Corps (Philippines)
• Reserve Officers' Training Corps (Taiwan)
• Army Cadet military school