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The ROK military's early experiences with studying in West Germany and their impact

Kim Do Min 1

1서울대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This article aims to examine the experiences of the early Korean military officers who went to study in West Germany in the 1960s and the impact of their experiences on the Korean military. Under the agreement between Korea and Germany in 1964, from 1965, the 2 cadets of Korea military academy sent to West German Army Academy as a status of military cadet, and at the same time, officers attended the West German Command and Staff college. Looking at the related research papers, there is only research on the study of Korean military to the United States. In the situation where there was little literature on Korean military's study abroad in West Germany, this article revealed the specific types and experiences of military study in West Germany by analyzing the oral records related to the Korean military collected by the Contemporary Korean Oral History Research Group of the Institute of Korean Studies, Kyujanggak Korean Studies Institute, Seoul National University. In the early days, 10 ROK military officers were dispatched to three locations, including a military academy, a commanding and staff college, and a general university in West Germany. Furthermore, this article revealed how ROK military West German students tried to apply the German military system within the Korean military since the 1980s, when military officers or officers at the level of military officers experienced military study abroad in West Germany and promoted up to become a Korean military general. For example, the German mission-based tactics were included as an FM(Field Manual) and the German decree on military service were not only translated and but applied to some ROKA units. Not only did some of the Korean military officers who had experienced studying in West Germany studied American military at the same time, they were also able to confirm some similarities and differences between the American military system and German one. It is expected that the concrete situation of West German military study by the Korean military will be restored through the voices of experienced peoples, as well as fill the gap of history in the relationship between Korea and Germany

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.