Military Corruption Traces Back to the Yulgok Project under the Roh Tae-woo Administration

The first submarine of the Republic of Korea Navy, the Jangbogo-class 209 No. 1 ship, acquired in February 1992 from the German HDW shipyard (Photo by the Navy)

[Kim Min-wook, Editor-in-Chief of Monthly Defense and Technology] The 3rd Yulgok Project was promoted from 1987 to 1992 during the Roh Tae-woo administration.

In the early 1980s, the focus was generally on the "early acquisition of the minimum urgent defense power against North Korea," but from the 1990s, due to changes in the security environment such as the dismantling of the Cold War system and the increase in local conflicts, as well as changes in the nature of warfare centered on highly precise weapons, the direction of force enhancement began to shift from North Korean defense power to advanced precision weapon systems prepared for uncertain threats. The 3rd Yulgok Project was no longer officially called that after it was changed to a linked plan from the 2nd Yulgok Project, but it has been conventionally referred to as the 3rd Yulgok Project.

During this period, the Army continued production of 155mm self-propelled howitzers and began development of combat command armored vehicles and chemical-biological reconnaissance vehicles. The Navy started construction of the Korean Destroyer (KDX-1) at the end of the 1980s and additionally built frigates (FF), patrol combat corvettes (PCC), and small to medium high-speed boats (PKM) to greatly strengthen anti-submarine warfare capabilities and maritime/coastal surveillance capabilities.

From the late 1980s, 1,200-ton 209-class submarines were produced through technology transfer from Germany and launched in the early 1990s. Acquisition of upgraded amphibious assault vehicles (AAV7A1) for strategic mobility was also pursued. The Air Force launched the KFP project (Korean Fighter Program) in 1991, securing a total of 108 KF-16s through 36 assembled and 72 licensed productions via technology transfer.

▲ Launch of the Korea Defense Industry Association= Amid significant changes in the defense industry environment, the Korea Defense Industry Association held its inaugural general meeting on September 27, 1991, and was established as a corporation in November of the same year.

The Korea Defense Industry Association actively conducts research and academic activities on the defense industry to support national security policy formulation and gather public opinion from industry, academia, and research sectors. Composed mainly of defense industry managers, scholars, and researchers, the association has since contributed significantly to exchanging professional knowledge and experience on major defense policies across various fields and disseminating research and development trends.

▲ Yulgok Audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection= With the inauguration of President Kim Young-sam’s civilian government, the Board of Audit and Inspection conducted an audit of the Yulgok Project. From late April to early July 1993, during approximately 70 days of intensive audit, over 100 issues were pointed out in various areas such as weapon system and model selection, resulting in corrective demands, warnings, and disciplinary requests to the Ministry of National Defense. Additionally, measures were taken to recover several hundred billion won of unfair profits from contractors, and improvements were demanded for dozens of systems deemed unreasonable.

However, the audit findings highlighted procedural and project execution issues more than corruption problems, and pointed out bribery involving high-ranking defense officials related to weapon brokerage firms. The Yulgok audit became a clear turning point where transparency issues in defense projects emerged and securing transparency became an essential issue.

After the Yulgok audit, the budget for force enhancement projects, which had been classified as secret and submitted to the National Assembly only as a total amount, was changed from 1994 to a detailed itemized format and submitted to the National Assembly, allowing for full-scale budget review and settlement audits on specific contents.

▲ Establishment of Specialized Research Centers by Field= In December 1994, with support from the Ministry of National Defense, specialized research centers for defense science and technology were established at three domestic universities. Starting on December 15 with automatic control at Seoul National University, followed by electro-optics at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology on the 16th, and electromagnetic wave specialization at Pohang University of Science and Technology on the 20th, research consortia were formed centered on these universities with specialized research centers, enabling efficient utilization of national science and technology resources such as outstanding personnel, technical information, and research equipment from industry, academia, and research institutes.

Along with this, maximum authority was delegated to center representatives selected from among the university professors to maximize creativity, and comprehensive evaluations were conducted every three years with results disclosed publicly, providing participating researchers with pride and developing into an effective evaluation system to verify the level of technology development.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.