Presidential adviser proposes review of defense reform plan

SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- A special adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday said the country's military needs to reconsider its defense reform scheme to meet the change in security conditions.

Speaking at a forum here hosted by the Air Force, Moon Chung-in, who's also a well-known academic, cited the peace mood created by the April 27 inter-Korean summit and the Singapore meeting between the North's leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump last week.

"I think there's a need for an overall review of Defense Reform 2.0 in light of elements that change the situation on the Korean Peninsula such as the Panmunjom Declaration and the North-U.S. summit," said Moon, a presidential adviser on foreign and security affairs.

The Ministry of National Defense has long worked on a far-reaching plan to make the nation's 620,000-strong armed forces smaller but more powerful.

Under some of the main plans that took the North's provocative acts over the past years into account, the military envisions the establishment of the so-called three-axis system -- the Kill Chain pre-emptive strike system, the Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) and the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR) capabilities.

It's also seeking to reduce the number of troops to half a million by 2022. The defense ministry has not made public related details yet.

Air Force Gen. Lee Wang-keun agreed that it's time for the military to adjust "some direction" of the reform program in consideration of a "big footstep" taken toward peace and stability on the peninsula.

lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)