The Foundation of a National Defense College for the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, and Formation of the National Security Theory

National Defense College for the ROK(Republic of Korea) Military was founded in 1955, as the highest military education facility for the country's Army, Navy and Air force. The foundation was inspired by the National War College of the U.S. which had opened earlier in 1946. Education at the National Defense Colleges of Korea and the U.S. were all based on the National Security Theory, which jointed military strategies and political maneuvers in its education and agenda. Ever since the second World War, and till the Korean War, the entire international order was reorganized with the U.S. and U.S.S.R. as two major poles, thus initiating the Cold War. National security theory shaped U.S. identity during the Cold War. It is the genesis of U.S. militarism and the national security regime that has shaped the United States to this day.BR There are multiple meanings behind the foundation of the National Defense College for the ROK Armed Forces, as examined in this article as follow:BR First, foundation of the college lets us see the nature of Korea's own National Security Theory, and how the country began its realpolitik and research on international politics, especially with a military authorities. Turning our attention to these particular aspects would hopefully help us complement prior studies which rather focused on how the curriculum on international politics was imported into Korea, or studies that tried to reconstruct the academic tradition or genealogy of such imported curriculum.BR Secondly, opening of the institute signifies the fact that the National Security Theory was imported to Korea via the Trans-Pacific, which was considered as the gateway and almost a de-facto avant-garde in East Asia, taking a specific role according to cooperation and labor division among all parties involved military-wise during the Cold War. With the Korean military being equipped with a superior war college harboring the highest authority, the Korean military was set to modernize, and arm itself with 'military professionalism' as Samuel P. Huntington once put it. From a wider, more long-term perspective however, such changes were unfortunately accompanied by increased chances of a coup d