[Editorial] Let Our Army Feel Proud of Themselves

Today is “Armed Services Day.” It is today when our army’s 3rd Infantry Division crashed through the 38th parallel during the Korean War in 1950. Half a century has gone by since then, and our army has achieved significant advances, both in quality and in quantity. Yet, we feel this year’s Armed Services Day is particularly special. It is because there have been lots of incidents that have happened inside and outside our army this year, and still more changes are expected to be made.

First of all, we need to look back to see if these incidents have caused any decline in morale. The scandal caused by the dropped report of North Korea’s intrusion across the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea last July is a good example that damaged both Cheong Wa Dae and the military unnecessarily. This incident could have been handled internally without making noise, but it was enlarged into a noisy scandal instead. In May and June, a four star general got arrested for the first time in our history, and the deputy secretary general of the National Security Council (NSC) raised a scandal by his address emphasizing an “army with love of their country rather than hospitality.” All of these incidents are viewed as examples showing the military in an unflattering light while ignoring the special characteristics of our army that is serving our country in the front line.

There are so many concerns about changes that our army will have to go through inside and out: whether the revamping of the army will reach its goal safely without much side effects; whether the reduction of U.S. forces in Korea will cause any problems for our self-defense system, which has become our highest priority now, and whether the Zaytun detachment serving in Iraq will be able to return home safely after completing its duty assisting in the reconstruction of Iraqi peace.

I want the government and the army to carefully consider what their respective roles are for our country’s security at this point in time. The government should not consider the army as just an object to be reformed. It should consider the army as a companion of reform. The army itself, of course, should also demonstrate its resolution for self-renovation after all the endless scandals, small and big.

The most important thing here is morale of the army. Military servicemen should not feel ashamed of wearing their uniforms in our society. Furthermore, when a social atmosphere exists where people feel proud of being military men is achieved in our society, our security base in this tumultuous period will become solid. Are we heading in this direction?