Expanding the Use of Private Resources in the Republic of Korea’s National Defense

The ROK military needs to expand the use of private resources to fulfill defense management reform. Utilization of private resources can lead to a higher efficiency of national defense management and reduce the burden on the defense budget. In carrying out private entrustment, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) should make sure that wartime missions are uninterrupted, and loss of jobs among outgoing militaries are minimized through the efforts to create job positions that can leverage military expertise and experience. To transform an organization into a more flexible and professional one, the basic management rule of a military executive agency needs to be continuously modified on the basis of the results of performance evaluation. For a successful private investment project,there should be key elements such as a clear policy, appropriate legislation,procedures capable of efficient implementation and facilitation of private investment projects, and guidelines for project development and costbenefit analysis. The expertise of sale and development of real estate needs to be strengthened by introducing civilian specialists and methods to efficiently use wasteful land which will become available due to base relocation. The MND should use civilian personnel to diversify the defense manpower structure and expand civil expert participation in defense policymaking to increase understanding and consensus as well as transparency and objectivity in defense-related affairs. KCI Citation Count: 2