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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.

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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

NOTE: The information regarding Korea, South on this page is re-published from The Library of Congress Country Studies and the CIA World Factbook. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Korea, South Army information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Korea, South Army should be addressed to the Library of Congress and the CIA.