The Ministry of National Defense is seeking to revise the national mobilization system to allow the military to use reservists and civilian vehicles during peacetime crises as it strives to ensure a rapid response to future North Korean provocations.

The move, albeit with an intent to strengthen national defense against an unexpected attack, has triggered concerns that it could restrict citizens’ basic rights including their property rights.

“(The ministry) will seek legal revisions to rapidly mobilize emergency military assets when the government declares a state of ‘integrated defense’ during peacetime, so as to promptly deal with North Korean threats and prevent an escalation (of a crisis),” a ministry official told media, declining to be named.

Mayors, governors or the president can declare a state of integrated defense, during both peacetime and wartime. When the state is in force, civilian, government and military personnel are to combine their capabilities to protect key national facilities, fend off enemy infiltrations or wipe out enemy forces.

Under the current national mobilization system, even in a state of integrated defense, reservists and civilians cannot be mobilized during peacetime.

In 2011, South Korea revised the wartime law to allow the military to partially mobilize reservists when chances of imminent war are high. The revision has, thus, allowed for the partial mobilization during a limited attack by the communist state.

But ministry officials said that the revision of the mobilization system is aimed at more effectively handling a variety of enemy threats.

To more effectively manage national assets to be mobilized during wartime, the military plans to create a mobilization command sometime after 2018.

The Defense Ministry also plans to simplify its mobilization regions thanks to the development of communications tools and transportation means, officials said.

Currently, there are 13 mobilization regions, but the ministry groups them into two areas. Area 1 would include subordinate units under the First and Third Armies in Seoul, and Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces, while Area 2 includes units in Chungcheong, Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)