SEOUL, July 27 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's military submitted its reform plan to President Moon Jae-in Friday to reduce the number of four-star generals and the term of service for soldiers.
The Defense Reform 2.0 was reported to President Moon and fixed. Moon convened a meeting with major military commanders at his office, according to the presidential Blue House.
Under the reform plan, the number of generals will be cut to 360 by 2022 from the current 436. The number would be cut by an average of 15 every year.
The posts of 66 four-star army generals will be removed, while five general posts of the navy and the air force will be got rid of, respectively, four years later.
The position of non-combat unit commanders will be demoted to colonels, while the post of vice commanders for combat units will be promoted to generals.
The service period for soldiers of the army and the marine corps will be cut to 18 months by the end of 2021 from the current 21 months.
The service term for the navy servicemen will be reduced from 23 months to 20 months, with the period for troops of the air force to be cut from 24 months to 22 months.
The South Korean military planned to slash the total number of forces to 500,000 by 2022 from the current 618,000. The reduction in forces will only come from the army.
