A Study of the Replacement Rate of Military Job Performance Ability According to Science and Technological Innovation Focusing on the ROK's Army Branch

Abstract

The Republic of Korea (ROK) is making efforts to switch to a technology-intensive military that introduces advanced technology to prevent a security vacuum caused by a shortage of troops due to population decline. This study analyzed the replacement rate of military job performance ability by branch according to the development of science and technology (S&T). In addition, the following conclusions could be derived. First, S&T will significantly replace the human personnel’s job performance by 2040. Second, the degree of replacement by S&T will be high for the troop-intensive branches. Third, low-skilled and standardized jobs are easy to replace by S&T, and high-skilled atypical jobs are difficult to replace. Therefore, the ROK military’s aim of a military with advanced technology needs a customized policy that identifies low-skilled, standardized jobs, replaces them with S&T first, and gradually introduces super-technical skills that fit the attributes of the branches to which those jobs belong.