Five-Term Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Fires Back at President Lee’s Military Academy Merger Plan

Just four days into his new term. Oh Se-hoon, who made history on July 1, 2026, as the first Seoul mayor ever elected to a fifth term, is already firing pointed criticism at the central government. His target: President Lee Jae-myung’s flagship campaign pledge to merge the Army, Navy, and Air Force academies into a single institution. “The fact that it’s a presidential campaign promise is not, by itself, justification enough to push this through” — words that didn’t come from the opposition, but from a five-term mayor aimed squarely at the Lee administration. So why now, and why Oh Se-hoon?

How Far Has the Military Academy Merger Actually Gone?

President Lee Jae-myung campaigned on merging the three service academies as a way to break down inter-service rivalries and strengthen joint operational capabilities. After taking office, he made the pledge official at a joint commissioning ceremony, declaring he would “unite the three academies to produce defense professionals who can lead the battlefield of the future.” The plan currently under review by the Ministry of National Defense would consolidate first- and second-year programs at Jaundae in South Chungcheong Province, while third- and fourth-year cadets would split off to their respective academies. Under this model, the Korea Military Academy (KMA) would relocate from its historic home in Taejeong-dong, Seoul, with Sangmudae in Jangseong County, South Jeolla Province emerging as the leading candidate. An official announcement is expected as early as this month.

The other flashpoint is real estate. If the KMA vacates its Taereung campus and that land is combined with the adjacent Taereung Country Club, the combined site would amount to roughly two million square meters of prime urban land. Given the government’s ongoing push to boost housing supply in the greater Seoul area, critics have begun asking whether this so-called security reform is actually a roundabout way to unlock valuable Seoul land for residential development.

Three Reasons Oh Se-hoon Pushed Back — Hard

On July 5th, Mayor Oh Se-hoon posted a lengthy statement directly on his Facebook page. His argument rested on three main pillars.

• Joint capability isn’t built by merging campuses: Oh pointed to the United States, which maintains West Point, the Naval Academy in Annapolis, and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs as separate institutions — yet still achieves world-class joint operational capability through the Joint Chiefs structure and combined training. His analogy was sharp: “Saying the arts are interconnected doesn’t mean you merge a fine arts school, a music conservatory, and a sports academy into one.”
• The real crisis is military morale, not institutional structure: Oh argued that declining application rates for junior officer positions, the exodus of talented recruits, and deteriorating service conditions are far more urgent problems. His line that “what’s needed isn’t symbolic consolidation but reforms that actually strengthen military competitiveness” was a barely veiled accusation that the merger is political theater, not genuine reform.
• The Taereung development question and the need for public consent: Oh stated bluntly, “If one of the true purposes of this consolidation is to relocate the KMA in order to open up Taereung for housing development, then even greater caution is required.” He made clear that the central government cannot unilaterally make decisions that affect Seoul residents without their buy-in — a signal that he intends to exercise his authority as mayor over what happens in his own city.

Former Military Education Commanders Also Speak Out

The day before Oh’s post, on July 4th, twelve former Army Education and Training Command generals signed a joint statement calling for a full review of the merger plan and the proposed KMA relocation. The KMA Alumni Association was equally blunt, denouncing the policy as “a rushed scheme pushed through without objective research or proper military-academic verification.” The political backdrop matters here too. In January 2025, the proportion of generals promoted from non-KMA backgrounds reached an all-time high and was publicly cited as a key achievement — leading many analysts to read the academy merger as an attempt to extend that personnel philosophy all the way back to the training pipeline.

Why Oh Se-hoon’s Words Carry Real Political Weight

The timing is everything. Oh Se-hoon won his fifth term in the June 3rd local elections by a narrow margin over his Democratic Party challenger, holding Seoul even as the opposition controls the national government. That makes him, by most accounts, the most credible survival model the conservative bloc has right now. Picking a fight with the Lee administration over one of its signature pledges in the very first week of his new term is not simply a local government registering a policy disagreement. It reads far more like a five-time mayor staking out territory with a future presidential race in mind — and choosing “national security,” an issue that resonates deeply with veterans and conservative voters, as his opening move.

There’s also a structural dimension that gives Oh real leverage. The Taereung area falls within Seoul’s jurisdiction, which means any government attempt to redevelop the KMA site would require the city’s cooperation. When Oh declared that “residents must give their consent first,” he was effectively signaling that Seoul City Hall holds something close to veto power over the process. What began as a defense policy debate is now starting to look like the opening front of a broader political confrontation between the Lee Jae-myung administration and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.

Sources

• Oh Se-hoon on academy merger: “This shakes the century-long foundation of national security” – SBS
• Oh Se-hoon: “We must not undermine the century-long foundation of national security” – Hankook Ilbo
• Oh Se-hoon warns academy merger “must not shake national security’s century-long foundation” – Money Today
• KMA relocation to Jangseong, South Jeolla looking likely; announcement possible next month – Daum News
• “Remove KMA from Taereung and you remove security too” — former education commanders speak out – New Daily