Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back [Yonhap]
Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back [Yonhap]

Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back will not attend this week's public hearing on the proposed unified military academy, it has been confirmed.

The public hearing scheduled for Wednesday will be presided over by Kim Hong-cheol, the Defense Ministry's policy chief, with Ahn absent.

Ahn had previously pledged to push ahead with the unified academy plan without wavering, saying it was intended "to proactively respond to a shrinking school-age population and changes in future warfare, and to cultivate elite officers who will lead combined operations after the transfer of wartime operational control."

His absence is being described as unusual. Ahn had taken the lead in driving the process, with the ministry planning to announce detailed establishment plans in October after consolidating and thoroughly reviewing opinions gathered at Wednesday's hearing and other forums.

Ahn had also said he intended to use the public hearings to continue persuading the alumni associations of the Army, Navy and Air Force academies.

On the conflict with the alumni associations, Ahn told reporters: "Even in wartime, we communicate and talk with the enemy — members of the same defense community must be able to talk to each other. Our thinking may differ, but I believe we share the same goal." He added, "There have been moments of argument between us, and immediate chemistry may be hard to achieve, but I believe we are in a position to speak openly with each other."

The dispute is further complicated by an ongoing disagreement between Ahn and the alumni associations over whether they had agreed to consider maintaining the current academy structure as an alternative — a claim both sides contest. Ahn's absence raises the prospect that tensions between the two sides could deepen.

The alumni associations said they had "decided after careful deliberation to participate in the public hearing," but added that they had "continuously requested answers on several matters and have yet to receive them."

They went on to say that "one of the most puzzling aspects is that the minister will not attend and the policy chief will deliver the keynote address and preside over the hearing," and that they had also "not received data showing that a unified military academy would be more cost-efficient than maintaining the current academies."

The Defense Ministry announced its basic plan on July 16 to merge the Army, Navy and Air Force academies into a single unified military academy to be established at Jaundae in Daejeon. Under the plan, cadets would receive integrated education in their lower years before moving into service-specific specialized training in their upper years, strengthening both jointness and branch expertise. The consolidation of the military academies is a campaign pledge and state agenda item of President Lee Jae Myung.


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