In an attempt to gather mixed opinions on bills governing national defense reform, a public hearing on the reform was held on June 22 at the National Assembly's Defense Committee conference room.
Former Minister of National Defense Kwon Young-hae as well as senior active-duty military officers and reserves from the Army, Navy and Air Force attended the hearing. Also experts from academic sector and some general public joined the hearing to discuss the controversial reform measures.
The hearing was headed by a lawmaker Won Yoo-chul, the chairman of the the committee.
A group of four representatives who support the reform, including Brig. Gen. Shin Kyeong-cheol of the Defense Ministry and Vice Adm. Kim Jeong-du of Joint Chiefs of Staff, and another group of four representatives who oppose the measures, including former superintendent of the Korea Military Academy Kim Choong-bae and retired Navy commodore Kim Hyuk-su debated on the reform measures.
In particular, the hearing heated up when both sides debated fiercely on issues related to roles of Army, Navy and Air force chiefs of staff, operations control structure and overall military organizational structure focused mainly on the Army.
Previously, the Defense Ministry had organized a large-scale publ
ic debate session on the reform on June 1 at the War Memorial of Korea in order to collect various views.
In the meantime, five bills governing the military reform had been submitted to the committee in May.
RoK MoD
