Korea Military Academy (KMA) is the leading South Korean institution for the education and training of officer cadets for the

Republic of Korea Army The Republic of Korea Army (ROKA; ), also known as the ROK Army or South Korean Army, is the army of South Korea, responsible for ground-based warfare. It is the largest of the military branches of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces with 365,0 ...

. Along with the Korea Army Academy (Yeongcheon), it produces the largest number of senior officers in the Korean army. Commonly referred to as ''Hwarangdae'' (

Hanja Hanja (; ), alternatively spelled Hancha, are Chinese characters used to write the Korean language. After characters were introduced to Korea to write Literary Chinese, they were adapted to write Korean as early as the Gojoseon period. () ...

: 花郞臺) as a reference to the '' Hwarang'', an elite organization of youth leaders which existed in Korean history, it is located in Nowon-gu, a northeastern district of

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

History

The academy was founded on May 1, 1946, as ''South

Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

Defense Academy'' by ''National Defense Command'', the predecessor of Ministry of National Defense of Republic of Korea, under the authority of then- U.S. military administration in South Korea. With the end of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...

and the subsequent disbandment of the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

, which had been occupying Korea since 1910, a void of indigenous security force was created, while the pool of human resource was composed of various backgrounds, including the former Imperial Japanese Army, Manchurian Army, and Korean Liberation Army. As a preparatory measure, the U.S. military administration opened the ''Military Language School'' in Seoul on December 5, 1945, in order to train military interpreters as well as the new generation of

commissioned officers An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

with unified, predominantly American

military doctrine Military doctrine is the expression of how military forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements. A military doctrine outlines what military means should be used, how forces should be structured, where forces shou ...

. In January 1946, the South Joseon National Defense Force was established. It was the predecessor to the ROK army. The School closed down on April 30, and South Joseon Defense Academy was founded the next day, taking over 60 cadets from the school and augmented by 28 new officer candidates drafted from line units. Henceforth, May 1 has been recognized as the official foundation day of KMA. ''Cham-ryeong'' (current rank of

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

) Lee Hyung-geun was appointed as the first superintendent of the academy, and ''Bu-wi'' (current rank of

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

) Jang Chang-kuk was appointed as the commandant. Following the establishment of the South Korean government on August 15, 1948, the ''National Defense Force'' was renamed to '

', and so was ''South Joseon Defense Academy'' to 'Korea Military Academy' accordingly.

Reorganization during the Korean War

From the beginning of the Korean War, ROK President

Syngman Rhee Syngman Rhee (; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965), also known by his art name Unam (), was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisiona ...

had asked US General Walton Walker and Walker's successor

Matthew Ridgway Matthew Bunker Ridgway (3 March 1895 – 26 July 1993) was a senior officer in the United States Army, who served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe (1952–1953) and the 19th Chief of Staff of the United States Army (1953–1955). Although he ...

for help reestablishing the KMA, but both generals found it impractical. In 1951, Ridgway's successor General

James Van Fleet General (United States), General James Alward Van Fleet (19 March 1892 – 23 September 1992) was a United States Army officer who served during World War I, World War II and the Korean War. Van Fleet was a native of New Jersey, who was raised i ...

finally listened to Rhee's request. Van Fleet was a graduate of

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

and had previously been in Greece during the 1946 – 1949

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War () took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the end of World War II, consisted of a Communism, Communist-led uprising against the established government of the Kingdom of Greece. The rebels decl ...

, where he had reorganized the US-backed

Kingdom of Greece The Kingdom of Greece (, Romanization, romanized: ''Vasíleion tis Elládos'', pronounced ) was the Greece, Greek Nation state, nation-state established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally ...

army. He took inspiration from his experiences, and said he wished to do for South Korea "the same as we did for the Greek divisions". In October 1951, the ROK Army Chief of Staff proposed an academy with a four-year course modeled after West Point. They created a temporary site for this school at Jinhae-gu, and appointed three West Point graduates to oversee the program. They held an opening ceremony on 20 January 1952. The KMA was very popular among South Koreans, with ROK Army Chief of Staff Lee Jong-chan writing: A statue of Van Fleet was erected on the KMA campus on 31 March 1960 to honor his contributions towards the academy. The Korean Defense Ministry called Van Fleet the "father of the Korean Army" in 2015 for his contributions to the KMA and elsewhere.

Modern history

, the campus had three monuments to honor 1948, 1949, and 1950 graduates of West Point who died in the Korean War. Van Fleet's son, James Van Fleet Jr., was honored in the 18 September 2020 monument, as he had died during a bombing mission in

Haeju Haeju () is a city located in South Hwanghae Province near Haeju Bay in North Korea. It is the administrative centre of South Hwanghae Province. As of 2008, the population of the city is estimated to be 273,300. At the beginning of the 20th centu ...

in April 1952. The ROK Army planned to erect four more monuments for the classes of 1945, 1946, 1947, and 1951 by 2023.

Campus

The campus is located in Gongreung 2-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Dress uniform

The Corps of Cadets KMA wear a dark blue full dress uniform with a

shako A shako (, , or ) is a tall, cylindrical military cap, usually with a visor, and sometimes tapered at the top. It is usually adorned with an ornamental plate or Cap badge, badge on the front, metallic or otherwise; and often has a feather, hackle ...

on parades - a mix of the United States tradition infused in the early years combined with the Korean traditional uniform used by the army in the Imperial period. The hackle carried with the shako is gold.

Notes

References

* History of KMA
https://web.archive.org/web/20041214232306/http://www.kma.ac.kr/open/kmaintroduction/sub2.html
(Korean) * KMA Motto

(English)

External links

Korea Military AcademyKorea Military Academy
{{authority control Republic of Korea Army Military academies of South Korea Universities and colleges in Seoul Nowon District Educational institutions established in 1946 1946 establishments in Korea