On July 25, Defense Minister An Kyu-baek reaffirmed his strong commitment to completing defense reforms as he marked his one-year anniversary in office.
In a post on his Facebook page, An acknowledged that "the deeper and broader the scope of reform, the more intense the growing pains will be," but he vowed to move forward without wavering.
He stated, "I will shoulder all the burdens of reform" and requested warm encouragement and support from the 550,000 members of the defense family who are quietly walking this path.
An characterized the government's defense reform as a "paradigm shift" rather than mere institutional adjustments, emphasizing, "Based on the great achievements that have led South Korea to become a strong nation over the past 80 years, we will surely achieve a new paradigm shift for success in the next 80 years."
Notably, he addressed the transfer of wartime operational control, stating, "The journey of recovery is also heading toward a conclusion," and assessed that the timing and conditions for regaining operational control have matured to the point of being encouraging to allied nations.
Accordingly, the Ministry of National Defense plans to finalize the verification of the Future Combined Command's Full Operational Capability (FOC) during the upcoming Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) in Washington, D.C., scheduled for October or November. Following this, the defense ministers of both countries aim to propose and announce the target year for the transfer of operational control to their respective presidents. Achieving this transfer by June 2030, before President Lee Jae-myung's term ends, is a key policy goal of the current administration.
An also listed significant achievements from the past year, including high-intensity internal audits and personnel reforms in response to the December 3 emergency martial law situation, legal and institutional improvements related to martial law, enhanced constitutional education, the operational deployment of the high-power missile Hyunmoo-5, the unveiling of the nuclear-powered submarine Jangbogo N Project, improvements in service members' treatment, and the easing of military facility protection zones.
Looking ahead, he outlined tasks for the remainder of his term, including the establishment of the National Military Academy, restructuring the military, normalizing intelligence and counterintelligence agencies, reforming the Marine Corps into a "quasi-fourth military branch," reorganizing the Defense Drone Headquarters, and increasing duty pay and various allowances.
An, who became the first civilian defense minister in 64 years, has led significant military organizational reforms, including the push for the transfer of operational control and the integration of military academies. However, he has faced internal resistance and personal attacks related to past allegations of military service violations during his tenure.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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