The Korea Times
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a revised regulation aimed at restoring the military protocol rank of the vice defense minister as part of efforts to "normalize" such a protocol order, the defense ministry said. Under the revision approved earlier in the day, the rank of the vice defense minister will be raised from ninth to second, just a notch below the top-ranking defense minister, according to the ministry. Previously, the vice defense minister ranked below eight top-notch defense and military officials, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the chiefs of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. The move came amid views that the protocol order should be revised to prevent confusion in the command order given that the vice defense minister takes on the role of acting defense minister in the event of the minister's absence. The previous protocol order was established in 1980 to increase the scope of the protocol order of military generals after the military junta came into power following a military coup the previous year.
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