General

Daejang

Daejang is a senior military rank of the Korean Peninsula, used by both North and South Korea. It is considered the combined equivalent of a General and Admiral in other nations...

 (Ret.) Lee Sang-hee, ROKA

Republic of Korea Army

The Republic of Korea Army is the largest of the military branches of the South Korean armed forces with 520,000 members as of 2010...

, was the 32nd Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Joint Chiefs of Staff (Republic of Korea)

Joint Chiefs of Staff of Republic of Korea is a group of Chiefs from each major branch of the armed services in the Republic of Korea Armed Forces. Unlike his/her United States counterpart, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has Operational Control over all military personnel of the Armed...

 of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces

Military of South Korea

The Republic of Korea Armed Forces or ROK Armed Forces, is the armed forces of the Republic of Korea...

 and the 41st Republic of Korea Minister of National Defense.

General Lee graduated from the Republic of Korea Military Academy in 1970 and the College of Liberal Arts & Science, Seoul National University

Seoul National University

Seoul National University , colloquially known in Korean as Seoul-dae , is a national research university in Seoul, Korea, ranked 24th in the world in publications in an analysis of data from the Science Citation Index, 7th in Asia and 42nd in the world by the 2011 QS World University Rankings...

 in 1974.

His assignments as a general officer were Chief of Force Planning, ROK Army Headquarters (1995-1996), Commanding General, 30th Infantry Division (Mechanized) (1996-1998), Director General, Policy Planning Bureau, Ministry of National Defense (1998-1999), Commanding General, V Corps (1999-2001), Chief Director, Strategy & Plans, Joint Chiefs of Staff (2001-2002), and Chief Director, Joint Operations Headquarters, Joint Chiefs of Staff (2002-2003).

He was promoted to 4-star general and assumed command of Third ROK Army in 2003.

In 2005, he was appointed the 32nd Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and served in that position until his retirement from the military in 2006.

In 29 February 2008, he assumed the position of Republic of Korea Minister of National Defense, replacing Kim Jang-soo

Kim Jang-soo

General Kim Jang-soo, ROKA, was the 37th Chief of Staff of the Republic of Korea Army and the 40th Republic of Korea Minister of National Defense. He is currently a Grand National Party Representative in the National Assembly of South Korea....

. He served at this position until 2009.

Awards and medals

• Presidential Citation
• Order of National Security “Samil” Medal
• Order of National Security “Chonsu” Medal
• Order of National Security “Gukson” Medal
• Republic of Turkey Armed Forces Merit Award
• The United States Legion of Merit (Commander & Officer grade)

External links

• http://www.jcs.mil.kr/main.html - Republic of Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff (Korean)
• http://www.mnd.mil.kr - Republic of Korea Ministry of National Defense (Korean)