[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] The Future of ADD, Appointed Director After 6 Months

In front of the main gate of the Agency for Defense Development. All other facilities are security zones where photography is prohibited.

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] With the appointment of Park Jong-seung, Deputy Director, as the Director of the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), the ADD reform plan is expected to gain momentum. In particular, the establishment of the Missile Research Institute is anticipated to accelerate the development of ballistic missiles such as Hyunmoo-4.

According to government officials on the 24th, ADD plans to integrate the guided weapon research and development departments that were scattered across various technical research headquarters organizations. The intention is to consolidate missile core technologies, which are currently dispersed among the Army, Navy, and Air Force, into the Missile Research Institute to focus capabilities.

Once the Missile Research Institute is established, the development of the "ballistic missile triple set," which significantly increases range and warhead weight, is expected to speed up. Since the revision of the South Korea-U.S. missile guidelines in 2017, following the inauguration of the Moon Jae-in administration, restrictions on range and warhead weight were lifted, prompting the military to pursue the development of more powerful ballistic missiles. ADD is known to have named ground-launched ballistic missiles as 'Hyunmoo 4-1', ship-launched ballistic missiles as 'Hyunmoo 4-2', and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) as 'Hyunmoo 4-4', depending on the launch platform.

Additionally, the organization plans to simplify by establishing the Defense Advanced Science Institute and the Test and Evaluation Institute. There are rumors that the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) intends to directly manage the Anheung Test Site and the East Coast Test Site. If ADD focuses on secret projects, domestic defense companies would have no choice but to use ADD-affiliated test sites and pay usage fees, which is why DAPA aims to manage them directly.

Inside and outside the military, there is an assessment that the ADD director position has been "mangled by political battles" under the current administration. The ADD director is appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the Minister of National Defense after deliberation by the Ministry of National Defense Personnel Committee, with a term of three years.

The position of Director of the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), a core role in the development of our military weapons, had been vacant for six months. Although the first recruitment was announced last November, it became controversial when Kang Eun-ho, Director of DAPA, applied after resigning from the deputy director position. This was because he submitted his resignation without serving even one year in the deputy director role.

As the ADD director was not appointed, internal dissatisfaction grew rather than reform. Although a reform task force (Task Force) of about ten members was formed and reform plans were created, there was no head of the institution to make decisions. The ADD labor union strongly criticized, saying, "It seems certain that there is a faction trying to get something by appointing a specific person as the ADD director."

The appointment of the ADD director has been controversial for some time. In December 2017, when Nam Se-gyu, then Deputy Director of ADD, was appointed director, criticism arose that the qualification requirements for the director recruitment changed from "retired general officer" to "retired field-grade officer or higher," which was seen as a move to place "their own people."

A military official said, "The ADD director position has been contentious over whether to recruit externally or promote internally," adding, "From now on, I hope the focus will be on developing core technologies such as missiles and contributing to strengthening military power."

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