Kim Jong-mook appointed as commander of the Army's 3rd Corps, Kwak Kwang-seop as commander of the Naval Operations Command

The Ministry of National Defense carried out personnel appointments for general officers in the first half of 2026 on the 5th. Kim Jongmok, chief of staff of the Army Ground Operations Command, was appointed as the commander of the 3rd Army Corps, which is responsible for the eastern front, and Vice Chief of Naval Operations Kwak Kwangseop was reassigned to serve as the commander of Naval Operations. Lieutenant General Kim Jongmok is a graduate of ROTC class 32, and like his predecessor, he stands out for not being a graduate of the Korea Military Academy. The commander position at Naval Operations had been vacant since the personnel appointments in March, and a new commander has now been filled through this appointment. In this round of appointments, one officer each from the Army, Navy, and Air Force was promoted to lieutenant general. In addition, 11 brigadier generals—7 from the Army, 2 from the Navy, and 2 from the Air Force—were promoted to major general and are expected to be assigned to key command positions. The Ministry of National Defense explained that it carried out the appointments in consideration of operational command capability and expertise to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats and the unstable international situation.