Two Faces of the Opposition to the Armed Forces Academy: Unhinged Retirees vs. Rational Cadets [Reporter's Notebook]

The public hearing on the establishment of the Korea Armed Forces Academy, held the day before yesterday (August 26) at the National Defense Convention in Yongsan, Seoul, was extremely chaotic. Retired military personnel and opposition lawmakers who oppose the government's plan to integrate the service academies and establish a unified Korea Armed Forces Academy resorted to unseemly behaviors such as profanity, shouting, occupying the podium, and jeering. Retired officers who participated as debaters representing the opposition side were no different, raising their voices and veins bulging in anger.

Former military personnel should know well that whether in offense or defense in military operations, victory can only be expected when passion is drawn out amidst cold and calm composure. Debates and arguments are no different. To seize the initiative, one must deliver striking arguments with weight and composure. However, at the public hearing the day before yesterday, the opponents of the Korea Armed Forces Academy committed a tactical blunder, losing their grip on reason and running wild, despite almost all of them being former military personnel.

A few Korea Military Academy cadets who attended the hearing were different. They expressed their opposition calmly with trembling voices. The student has surpassed the master. The oldest attendee, former Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-oung, also quietly laid out arguments against the plan. It was highly persuasive. If retired military personnel who are alumni of the service academies want to win this battle over the integration and consolidation of the academies, they would do well to emulate the attitudes shown by the cadets and former Minister Yoon the day before yesterday.

As everyone learns in elementary school, events like public hearings and debates have rules. Anyone can speak, but they must do so by obtaining an opportunity during the designated speaking time. Even if one finds it unacceptable, they must show the formal courtesy of listening to the opposing side's views before refuting them. Instructions from the chair and moderator must also be strictly followed.

At the public hearing for the establishment of the Korea Armed Forces Academy the day before yesterday, such rules were ignored from start to finish. When an introductory video explaining the necessity of the establishment was about to be played as the first order of business, a retired serviceman identifying himself as a general rushed out. Pouring out shouts and profanity, he sat down on the podium and blocked the screening. Watching a video would neither solidify the pro-integration arguments nor weaken the opposition, yet he stubbornly blocked it.

Next, the president of the Korea Military Academy Alumni Association gave a welcoming speech as a representative of the general alumni associations of the Army, Naval, and Air Force academies. He did not hide his emotions and dragged out his time. Although it was time to move on to the next agenda, retired personnel from the Navy and Air Force academies successively snatched microphones to speak. During the policy briefing by Kim Hong-chrol, head of the Office of National Defense Policy, People Power Party lawmaker Han Ki-ho disrupted the session with a booming voice in the manner he was used to in the National Assembly. As soon as the policy briefing ended, retired personnel rushed to the microphones demanding to have a word.

After much pulling apart and moving on to the debate, the opponents did not change. Amidst continuous jeering and screaming from the opposition camp, the speakers against the plan let emotions take precedence over reason. They persisted with petty tactics such as asking questions but denying opportunities for answers, and nitpicking over words. While the opponents might have felt a sense of catharsis among themselves, it seemed difficult to win any persuasion.

The oldest attendee at the public hearing the day before yesterday was likely former Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-oung, born in 1942. He took the microphone during the Q&A session. Speaking in a calm tone, he stated his opposition, saying, "If the service academies are integrated and a core officer corps is produced from a single school, it could rather pose a threat to civilian control," and "To ease the political burden on the president, the minister should honestly communicate with the president and postpone the push for service academy integration." It was the quietest voice, but the most memorable opposing argument.

Toward the end of the public hearing, the youngest attendees, the academy cadets, were given a chance to speak. They calmly presented their fresh opposing arguments, asking, "What is the evidence that the current service academies fail to form an identity as South Korean military officers?" and adding, "Cadets do not mind the aging facilities of the academies." The opponents gave them thumbs-up and applause.

At the public hearing the day before yesterday, the opponents glared fiercely and said countless things in loud voices, but what remained were only the unseemly behaviors of the retired military personnel. The presence of former Minister Yoon Kwang-oung and the cadets barely saved face. If they want to block the integration of the service academies and the establishment of the Korea Armed Forces Academy, the opponents must reorganize their ranks by emulating the demeanor of former Minister Yoon and the cadets.

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