I think in every army there are those who serve for less than
noble reasons. No institution can compeltely escape the
inevitability of political manueverings, personal greed, and
stupidity. I knew more than a few people in the U.S. Army who were
basically there to simply "milk the system", do the minimum,
cheating on PT tests, etc., and one day get out with a sweet
retirement package. And although the situation has improved
greatly, corruption and politics still exist in the Korean
military. If it's any consolation, the SAF is not alone; idiots
have a way of penetrating every organization.
Nevertheless, to be honest, I do find it a little strange that the
future leaders of the military are selected at such a tender, young
age. If the scholars are selected on the basis of their A-Level
results, that means....they were picked when they were only 18
years old! Just a highschool kid....(no offense to any highschool
kids here; we were all one at one point in time ^^)
There are some advantages to the system, though, I guess:
1) It allows the military to focus on developing an small, elite
group for top leadership positions, rather than trying to
"develope" everybody, which would be expensive and
impractical.
2) There's no need to waste time "searching" for potential leaders
among the junior officers, analyzing personnel records, performance
reviews, etc. You already KNOW who they are.
3) The select group of "future generals" can learn and make
mistakes without fear for his career. If every single officer is a
potential future general, then inflation tends to occur on
performance reviews, and a "zero-error" mentality sets in.
Sometimes people, including scholars, need to make mistakes, even
big mistakes, in order to learn and grow. (This would probably be
the best argument in favor of the system.)
4) There is less competition between officers. Everybody has their
"place". Scholars will rise to certain rank; those below them will
only become such-and-such a rank, and so on. If there is too much
competition, officers may focus too much on their career paths,
personal connections and bribery start to occur, etc. On the other
hand, competition may also bring out the best and brightest (think
"Darwinian" ), and lack of it may encourage people to be compalcent
and have an "entitlement" mentality.
Still, I personally feel that 18 years old is too...young. Maybe
its the Korean in me, but to a large extent age and experience are
important. Reviewing all officers after about 4~5 years service to
select the "chosen few" might be a good idea - the "chosen ones"
would enter a seperate career track, while the rest would enter
another. But selecting them at 18~19 years of age....hmmm, I
dunno.
What do you guys think about my analysis?
I hope I don't appear to be bad-mouthing the SAF! 
I actually think the Korean military can learn alot from
Singapore, especially where troop welfare and promotion
opportunites are concerned.