hankyoreh

By Kim Kyu-won, staff reporter

Korea Military Academy has admitted its first-ever foreign female cadet.

The year's crop of new cadets attending the 73th entrance ceremony on Feb. 22 included among them Eva Lizet Julca Anaya, a 23-year-old native of Peru. Julca is the first foreign female cadet in history for the KMA, which is headed by superintendent Lt. Gen. Park Nam-su.

Four of the 290 new cadets were foreign. Joining Julca were Rataphum Kunangan from Thailand, Altanchoji Mungktulga from Mongolia, and Vuong Thanh Kong from Vietnam. There are now four total Mongolian cadets - one at each grade level. A total of 12 foreign cadets have been admitted since 2002, when the first-ever foreigner, a cadet from Turkey, was admitted.

Of this year's incoming class of 290 cadets, twenty-nine were female and the remaining 261 were male, the KMA said. A total of 238 women have admitted to the school since the first group of 20 in 1998. Ninety-six are currently enrolled.

Twenty-four cadets have fathers or siblings who are currently serving as military careerists. One, Ha Je-bong, has both a father and sister currently serving. Gang Sol is a third-generation cadet, with father Gang Cheol-hwan entering the 46th class and his grandfather entering the 15th class. Park Ji-hun and Jo Cheol-min both have older brothers currently studying at the KMA: Park Jeong-hun with the 72th class and Jo Jong-woo with the 69th.

Meanwhile, a total of 134 cadets graduated the same day from the Republic of Korea Naval Academy, including one foreigner and 11 women. Another 157 cadets graduated from the Korea Air Force Academy, including one foreigner and 15 women.

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