reated in 1948, following the division of the Korean Peninsula by occupying Soviet and U.S. forces, the Republic of Korea Armed Forces is one of the largest standing armed forces in the world with a reported personnel strength of 3,695,000 in 2008 (655,000 active force and 3,040,000 regular reserve).[1]
The ROK Army (ROKA)—the sixth largest army in the world—is by far the largest of the military branches, with 522,000 effectives as of 2008. This comes as a response to both the mountainous terrain native to the Korean Peninsula (70% mountainous) as well as the heavy North Korean presence, with its 1 million strong army, two-thirds of which is permanently garrisoned in the frontline near the DMZ.
It should be noted that the current administration has initiated a program of self-defense, where by South Korea would be able to fully counter the North Korean threat with purely domestic means within the next two decades.
The army consists of the Army Headquarters, the Aviation Command, and the Special Warfare Command, with 11 corps, 49 divisions, and 19 brigades, some 522,000 troops and estimated as many as 5,850 tanks/armored vehicles, 11,337 artillery systems, 7,032 missile defense systems and 13,000 infantry support systems.