A Study on the Effectiveness of ROK Military Mobilization Division as a War Deterrence Function: Focusing on Mobilization Troop

Purpose: This paper is to analyze the military effectiveness of the mobilization resources constituting the mo-bilization forces and to suggest a plan to strengthen it. The military capability, military potential capacity, and military reputation of the mobilization forces are measures of military effectiveness. Improving the military ef-fectiveness of mobilizing forces will enhance interoperability with the armed forces in peacetime and enhance deterrence capabilities in peacetime. Method: The research method utilizes literature research and case study techniques. For reference, mobiliza-tion policy-related papers and research reports of research institutes will be reviewed, and security experts' ad-vice and case studies of countries operating mobilization forces will be reviewed. The subject of analysis is the troop structure constituting the mobilization division. The troop is the mobilized reserve force which accounts for more than 90% of the unit organization. Results: The troop structure of the mobilization division shows a poor composition that is less than the mini-mum economic operation scale. In the Army Standing Division, about 80% of the wartime formation is active duty, while the mobilization division consists of only about 7% active duty soldiers. And about 45% of them are being replaced every year. Mobilization training is also conducted for three days and two nights every year, but the schedule is insufficient for individual combat skills. The period of mobilization training for reserve forces is only 4~8% of that of active duty training. Conclusion: First, we need to redesign the concept of “mobilization” of the ROK military. Mobilization should be the concept of utilizing well-prepared and trained potential forces with modernized resources for operations in case of emergency. Second, it is necessary to intensively nurture combat reservist by introducing a selective reserve system. The military and government should boldly push ahead with policies to increase the military effectiveness of mobilized resources before the inevitable time of choice, presupposing the pessimistic situation of future security.