Lee wants an integrated military academy. What does that mean for South Korea's future defense and security?
Published: 06 May. 2026, 07:00
Updated: 06 May. 2026, 09:00
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- PAIK JI-HWAN
- [email protected]
![President Lee Jae Myung, right, encourages newly commissioned officers during an integrated commissioning ceremony at the Gyeryongdae parade ground in Gyeryong, South Chungcheong, on Feb. 20. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/05/06/0c58200a-8db7-41da-b1b9-71e53499d80c.jpg)
President Lee Jae Myung, right, encourages newly commissioned officers during an integrated commissioning ceremony at the Gyeryongdae parade ground in Gyeryong, South Chungcheong, on Feb. 20. [YONHAP]
As joint operations grow increasingly vital in a shifting geopolitical landscape marked by multiple ongoing wars, President Lee Jae Myung plans an integrated academy for South Korea's future military officers to develop cross-branch expertise and interoperability. However, military experts warn the plan could bring unintended consequences.
President Lee said on Feb. 20 during an commissioning ceremony at the military complex in Gyeryong, South Chungcheong, that he will “integrate the Army, Navy and Air Force academies to cultivate military talent more systematically” and stressed that “the ability to conduct integrated operations across land, sea and air is essential given the rapidly evolving security landscape.”
Under Lee’s proposal, the three academies will exist as colleges within the yet-to-be founded national defense academy. All cadets across the three branches will enter the national defense academy, complete basic courses in their first two years and then move on to their respective service academies for advanced study and military training in their third and fourth years.
The proposal, however, has drawn scrutiny from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) and former military officers over how it would reshape officer development and whether it might dilute branch-specific training in ways that could weaken operational effectiveness.
Weakened military identity and operation
Cadets can build their identities as Army, Navy or Air Force officers by undergoing separately designed programs at respective academies. Integration of the three, however, could disrupt that process of forming branch-exclusive identity.
![Newly commissioned officers celebrate their graduation by tossing their caps into the air at the 82nd graduation ceremony at Hwarang Parade Ground of the Korea Military Academy in Nowon District, northern Seoul on Feb. 27. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/05/06/8a72e5d1-cfc8-48b5-b4d6-aa73b6d5f6e8.jpg)
Newly commissioned officers celebrate their graduation by tossing their caps into the air at the 82nd graduation ceremony at Hwarang Parade Ground of the Korea Military Academy in Nowon District, northern Seoul on Feb. 27. [NEWS1]
These identities refer to the distinct professional cultures, traditions and operational mindsets of each service. Army cadets are shaped around ground combat leadership and unit cohesion, Navy cadets around maritime operations and life at sea and Air Force cadets around airpower and mission coordination.
"A unified structure can dilute service-specific traditions and cultures, or reshape them around a certain branch, creating identity confusion among the officer corps,” said former Army Brigadier General Joo Eun-sik, head of the Korea Research Institute for Strategy, during a policy forum on examining the issue of integrating the military service academies at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on April 17. “Some argue that integration can unite all branches under the shared goal of national defense. However, without clear behavioral standards tied to real operational situations, that shared goal alone will not drive meaningful change. The more practical path is to preserve each branch's distinct expertise and identity, and build jointness from there.”
Whether the integrated system will translate into improved military capability also remains unclear. Integration of the academies would see cadets learn a variety of fields in the beginning rather than deepening expertise in one area, potentially reducing time for specialized, branch-specific training and, in turn, weakening officers’ tactical expertise.
"The Army needs to learn ground operations, the Navy needs to learn how to run sea operations and command ships and the Air Force needs to learn air operations and advanced systems from the start; If each branch fails to build this foundation early, that branch won’t be able to train officers with the skills and leadership its mission requires,” PPP Rep. Han Ki-ho, a retired Army lieutenant general, said in a statement on April 17.
Branch-specific expertise matters especially in joint operations, where the boundary of which branch has which responsibilities should be clear.
![Newly commissioned officers celebrate their graduation at the 74th graduation ceremony of the Korea Air Force Academy in Cheongju, North Chungcheong on Feb. 25. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/05/06/98a8e57c-5992-4528-8b54-46928c38cb20.jpg)
Newly commissioned officers celebrate their graduation at the 74th graduation ceremony of the Korea Air Force Academy in Cheongju, North Chungcheong on Feb. 25. [NEWS1]
"When officers lack strong expertise, it becomes harder to pin down who is responsible for specific outcomes — and that confusion creates inefficiency across the military,” Joo said.
Under the current structure, the three branches have been able to execute joint operations and accumulate data tied to branch-specific missions. The same goes for the U.S. military, which has been considered the most powerful armed forces for a long time with the country’s divided academy system.
Integration’s risks
Integration of the three academies alone cannot elevate every officer’s integrated operational capability, as only a small portion of officers have academy backgrounds.
President Lee’s plan does not include an initiative to integrate the rest of officer training programs such as the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) — a college-based program that trains students to become officers while they complete their university degrees — and the Officer Candidate School (OCS) where college graduates enter a short intensive program to become officers.
Around 14 percent of officers were commissioned through the academies in 2024, while the ROTC accounted for the largest share at about 50 percent and roughly 20 percent were commissioned through the OCS, according to data released by the National Assembly's National Defense Committee.
“If the goal is integration capability, policymakers must apply it uniformly across all officer commissioning pathways,” Kim Se-jin, a principal researcher at Taejae Research Foundation and a graduate of the Korea Military Academy who completed his service as an Army Major, said at the policy forum. “The assumption that integrating the service academies enhances integration capability remains unproven.”
Integration of the academies is also not the sole way to reinforce integration capability, as military academies can instead adopt programs designed to enhance such abilities.
Kim called for alternative measures, including requiring cadets to participate in cross-branch training, adding integration capability as an evaluation criterion and assessing their understanding of other services’ operations and performance in joint simulations.
![Newly commissioned officers and attendees salute the national flag at the 80th graduation ceremony of the Republic of Korea Naval Academy at its parade ground in Changwon, South Gyeongsang on Feb. 27. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/05/06/05280503-4bdd-4bd2-8f65-2f0941d1efaa.jpg)
Newly commissioned officers and attendees salute the national flag at the 80th graduation ceremony of the Republic of Korea Naval Academy at its parade ground in Changwon, South Gyeongsang on Feb. 27. [YONHAP]
In some cases, the integrated education structure can instead bring unintended outcomes, as seen in the case of Japan.
The neighboring East Asian country operates its three-branch integrated National Defense Academy of Japan, which has seen a series of structural drawbacks.
“The National Defense Academy of Japan clearly shows how the integrated education model has failed,” Kim said. “They are facing three major problems. Twenty percent of first-year students drop out, one out of seven graduates refuses to become an officer and the number of applicants has fallen by 40 percent over the past 10 years. Integrated education has blurred each service’s identity, which has weakened cadets’ sense of mission and led many to refuse to become officers.”
Costs and structural hurdles
There are further practical factors the Lee administration must take into account when implementing the integration initiative.
![President Lee Jae Myung, left, pins rank insignia on newly commissioned officers during an integrated commissioning ceremony at the Gyeryongdae parade ground in Gyeryong, South Chungcheong, on Feb. 20. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/05/06/9aa253e6-425e-4d70-878b-cf90c562a6d9.jpg)
President Lee Jae Myung, left, pins rank insignia on newly commissioned officers during an integrated commissioning ceremony at the Gyeryongdae parade ground in Gyeryong, South Chungcheong, on Feb. 20. [YONHAP]
Cost is a major factor, as the plan would require building a new facility encompassing the three academies. Along with the new facility, a significant portion of the curriculum has to change in order to include integration-focused subjects, which could be another time-consuming process.
“Redesigning the curriculum and restructuring the faculty will take at least five to seven years, and the government must revise laws such as the Military Academies Establishment Act and the Military Personnel Management Act,” Kim said.
The Lee administration would need to weigh the broader strategic implications of the plan, as it represents not just educational reform but a fundamental shift in how the South Korean military prepares for evolving security challenges and a possible transition to greater operational autonomy. This is in line with Lee’s push to reclaim wartime operational control, or Opcon, from the United States during his five-year term.
The integration plan is not simply about merging academies, but could reshape how South Korea trains and commands its military in the face of persistent North Korean threats, which is why military experts stressed the need for caution.
"Rushing to integrate the military academies without adequate deliberation and thorough verification risks undermining the stability of the officer training system rather than strengthening jointness," Kim said.
BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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