South Korean cadets march during the 75th South Korea Armed Forces Day ceremony on September 26, 2023 in Seoul, South Korea. Thousands of troops participated in this year's ceremony while ground military equipment were showcased. (GettyImages) South Korea's ruling bloc on Thursday reached a consensus over a controversial plan to merge three Army, Air Force and Navy military academies.The Ministry of National Defense will push ahead with the plan while the ruling Democratic Party of Korea will provide budget and legislative support.According to Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back, the newly merged academy is to be built in the military compound of Jaundae in Daejeon. Ahn touted the location as adjacent to higher education facilities and research institutions dedicated to aerospace, space, telecommunications and nuclear power.In the merged academy, the new curriculum will allow cadets to "lead operations across all domains, including space, cyberspace," Ahn said Thursday after a meeting of high-ranking government officials and Democratic Party lawmakers at the National Assembly.The country is planning to reclaim wartime operational control from the United States by as early as 2027. This would translate into a major change in the future security environment, and military reforms including the academy merger are needed for the South Korean military to leap forward, Ahn added.The plan will involve hiring more civilian instructors, as Ahn said that they should account for 50 percent of the entire faculty, or double that of the current figure. From left: Rep. Jin Sung-joon, chair of the National Defense Committee and a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker, Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and Rep. Han Byung-do, interim chief of the Democratic Party (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald) Rep. Kim Byung-joo, a lawmaker with the Democratic Party and member of the National Defense Committee, said the merger of military academies is the "calling of our time" amid a paradigm shift in the modern war environment and the country's population decline.The party will continue to collect opinions over the merger plan, Kim added.Currently, the Korea Military Academy, Korea Naval Academy and Korea Air Force Academy separately train cadets and officers.