• Survey Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.29-53
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• 2006

This paper analyzes which of the military sub-fields has an effect on a soldier's evaluation of South and North Korean military power. There are three objectives of this paper. First, it is to analyze whether the South is superior to the North in the overall military power and military sub -fields, without the presence of the US armed forces in South Korea. Second, it is to assess which of the military sub-fields influences the overall evaluation of military power through a regression analysis. Finally, it is to look at whether the professional soldiers have a motivational bias, due to an argument that the military personnel tend to exaggerate the inferiority of their own military power to get more budget for defense construction. Research in 2002 and 2003 tell us that South Korean military power is slightly inferior to North Korea's. However, research in 2005 shows that military power of South and North Korea is almost equal. The sub-fields in which South Korea is superior are in the order of War Sustainability, Information Warfare, Air Force, and Navy. North Korea is regarded to be superior in the fields of Atomic Biological Chemical Warfare Capability, Special Force, Reserve Mobilization, and Army. The higher ranked soldiers tend to evaluate that the North is superior to the South.