South Korea's Ministry of National Defense is likely to miss its October target for releasing a detailed plan to merge the army, navy and air force academies into a single armed forces academy.
"It will be physically difficult to release the detailed plan this month," a ministry official said on the 23rd. "We are currently in the process of gathering opinions."
In July, the ministry announced a basic plan centered on establishing a four-year Korea Armed Forces Academy at Jaun-dae in Daejeon, an area dense with military education and training facilities, by consolidating the three service academies.
The ministry said at the time that it would pursue the release of a detailed plan around October after collecting feedback through public hearings and other channels. Specifics such as the timing for admitting the academy's first class of cadets and the selection method were expected to be included in that plan.
The release appears to have been pushed back, however, as additional review of the academy project got under way after Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul took office in late September.
Kang has said publicly that he would supplement the existing basic plan if the feedback process identified areas needing revision.