The Ministry of National Defense (MND, ko, 국방부) is a department within the government of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

(ROK) and responsible for the military branches of South Korea.

History

The Ministry of National Defense was established on 15 August 1948 and located at Yongsan-dong,

Yongsan District Yongsan District (, ) is one of the 25 List of districts of Seoul, districts of Seoul, South Korea. Yongsan has a population of 231,685 (2020) and has a geographic area of , and is divided into 19 ''Dong (administrative division), dong'' (adminis ...

, Seoul. It was established following the foundation of ROK in 1948, superseding the Department of Internal Security (DIS, ) in charge of Southern Korean armed forces under the United States Army Military Government (USAMGIK) during the Allied occupation era. During

Coup d'état of December Twelfth The Coup d'état of December Twelfth (Hangul: 12.12 군사반란; Hanja: 12.12 軍事叛亂) or the "12.12 Military Insurrection" was a military coup d'état which took place on December 12, 1979, in South Korea. Republic of Korea Army Major Gen ...

, ministry was occupied by 1st Airborne Special Forces Brigade commanded by

Park Hee-do Park Hee-do (hang-lan:朴熙杜, born 20 March 1986) is a South Korea football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means ...

. In 2018, the Ministry has agreed to respect the results from its Special Investigation Committee on

Gwangju Uprising The Gwangju Uprising was a popular uprising in the city of Gwangju, South Korea, from May 18 to May 27, 1980, which pitted local, armed citizens against soldiers and police of the South Korean government. The event is sometimes called 5·18 (Ma ...

in which

MD Helicopters MD 500 The MD Helicopters MD 500 series is an American family of light utility civilian and military helicopters. The MD 500 was developed from the Hughes 500, a civilian version of the US Army's OH-6A Cayuse/Loach. The series currently includes the M ...

and

UH-1H The Bell UH-1 Iroquois military helicopter, first introduced in 1959, is the first production member of the prolific Huey family of helicopters, and was itself developed in over twenty variants, which are listed below. XH-40 and YH-40 The firs ...

were used to fire on protesting citizens. The Ministry of National Defense is allegedly active in military-level censorship such as book banning and screening of

mobile apps A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on de ...

within the military hierarchy.

Agencies

Military Manpower Administration The Military Manpower Administration () is one of a military organizations in South Korea and is run under the Ministry of National Defense. The headquarters are in Seo District, Daejeon. History *July 17, 1948: Assignment of military a ...

(병무청) *

Defense Acquisition Program Administration The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) was founded on January 1, 2006 as part of a comprehensive reform of the defense acquisition project, including the introduction and development of weapons, and is a central administrative agenc ...

(방위사업청)

List of ministers

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control

Military of South Korea

National Defense National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military attac ...

Yongsan District

History

Agencies

List of ministers

See also

References

External links