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South Korea Army
Unavailable
Figure 14. Deployment of South Korean and United State Forces
in South Korea, 1990
The ground forces were organized into three armies and
several independent operational and functional commands
(see
fig. 14). The First Army and the Third Army occupied well-fortified
positions stretching southward from the DMZ about fifty
kilometers. The First Army's mission was to defend the eastern
section of the DMZ. The Third Army, South Korea's largest and
most diversified combat organization, was responsible for
guarding the most likely potential attack routes from North Korea
to Seoul--the Munsan, Ch'orwon, and Tongduch'on corridors. The
Second Army had operational command over all army reserve units,
the Homeland Reserve Force, logistics, and training bases located
in the six southernmost provinces. Select army troops were
assigned to the Capital Defense Command (formerly the Capital
Garrison Command), whose active duty component, really more a
countercoup force than a defensive force, was a little less than
a division in 1990, organized into three separate security groups
or regiments. They were assigned to defend the Blue House (the
presidential residence), major government and Ministry of
National Defense buildings, and Kimp'o International Airport. The
wartime strength of the Capital Defense Command comes from
multiple division reserves, which would be mobilized during a
conflict. The Capital Defense Command also was responsible for
peacetime training of all Seoul area reserves. Functional
commands included the Counterespionage Operations Command,
subordinate to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and
responsible for interdicting North Korean saboteurs and espionage
agents; the Defense Security Command, the army's internal
security organization; and the Logistics Base Command, which was
established to manage the movement of supplies to the frontlines.
KS050301.
Figure 14. Deployment of South Korean and United State Forces
in South Korea, 1990
Active-duty infantry units were organized as combined armed
forces with armor and artillery forces subordinate to the
division or brigade commander. The Third Army and First Army
controlled nineteen infantry divisions and two mechanized
infantry divisions. In 1987 each infantry division had about
14,716 soldiers, but in terms of transportation and
communications and other equipment was considered "light" by
United States standards. Each infantry division had four
battalions per regiment, three infantry regiments and one
artillery regiment per division, a reconnaissance/ranger
battalion and an armor battalion (some only had armor companies),
and a reasonable facsimile of combat support and combat service
support units in comparison to United States counterparts. The
two mechanized infantry divisions each had three
mechanized/maneuver brigade headquarters, a cavalry battalion,
and a mix of nine armor and mechanized infantry battalions.
The army was responsible for the ground component of South
Korea's air defense network and had two surface-to-surface
missile battalions and several antiaircraft gun battalions. The
surface-to-surface missile battalions were equipped with United
States-produced HAWK and Nike Hercules missiles, the former
having a range of 42 kilometers, the latter a range of 140
kilometers. The field armies had small quantities of three types
of man-portable, shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles. These
included the British-produced Javelin and the United Statesproduced Redeye missile. Additionally, there were three types of
antiaircraft guns in use: the Swedish-produced Bofors L/70 40mm;
the Swiss-produced Oerlikon GDF-002 35mm; and the domestically
produced Vulcan 20mm.
The Special Warfare Command had seven brigades trained for
wartime missions behind enemy lines. Although information on the
organization of these units was unavailable in 1990, they
probably were among the best-trained and most combat-ready forces
in the army.
A single aviation brigade operated several types of attack
and transport helicopters that could be strategically deployed to
support combat operations of the infantry divisions and special
forces. Some 200 McDonnell Douglas 500-MD helicopters were
produced under license by Korean Air between 1976 and 1984. At
least fifty of these helicopters were equipped with TOW antitank
weapons. The remainder were used as transports and for other
support missions. In 1990 South Korea also had about 50 McDonnell
Douglas AH-1S attack helicopters and 144 McDonnell Douglas UH1B /H transport helicopters.
The role of women in the army has changed in the late
twentieth century. A small, all-volunteer Women's Army Corps
(WAC) was made a separate unit of the army in 1971. Women were
required to be high-school graduates, were enlisted for a twoyear tour of duty, and their military occupational specialties
limited to nursing and a few other noncombat positions.
In September 1989, the National Assembly revised the military
personnel law which governed the WAC, and the WAC was officially
deactivated on December 30, 1989. Female soldiers were formally
reassigned to seven branches within the army: infantry,
administration, intelligence, finance, education and information,
logistics, and medical service. A separate WAC school and
personnel center remained.
Between 1980 and 1990, the army increased in size by only a
small margin. During this same period, however, new units were
formed; the procurement of new tanks, armored personnel carriers,
field artillery, antitank guns, air defense missiles,
helicopters, and other types of military equipment significantly
improved the defensive capabilities of the ground forces (see
table 16, Appendix). In 1980 the army had approximately 1,200
United States-produced M-47 and M-48 tanks and 500 mostly United
States-produced M-113 armored personnel carriers (also some Fiat
6614 wheeled armored personnel carriers). By 1990 South Korea had
manufactured 200 of the domestically produced T-88 tank and had
upgraded most of its M-48s to M-48A3s or M-48A5s. During the
period from 1980 to 1990, the number of field artillery pieces
more than doubled, going from 2,000 to 4,200 pieces, and South
Korea began to introduce larger guns to extend the effective
range of fire. In 1980 the army was equipped with 57mm, 75mm,
90mm, and 106mm recoilless rifles for antitank use and TOWs. In
1990 the TOW and LAW still were the primary antitank weapons. The
106mm/90mm recoilless rifles increased in numbers and were the
basic antitank system for the infantry, although lower caliber
weapons still existed. The TOWs were relatively scarce and were
organized into independent units separate from the infantry
divisions' main organization and equipment. The national air
defense network comprised only 100 Vulcan antiaircraft guns and a
small number of Nike-Hercules and HAWK surface-to-air missiles in
1980; by 1990 there were 600 antiaircraft guns, and the NikeHercules and HAWKs had both increased in number and undergone
significant upgrades.
Data as of June 1990
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