This article explores important aspects of the Korean military psychiatry, which is currently still in its development stage. In terms of the main operational system, the Korean military psychiatry can be classified into three periods: the introductory period of western military psychiatry to the Korean armed forces (1890s to 1910), the suspended period due to theJapanese occupation (1911~1945) and the development period under the United Sates system (post-1945). The major changes within this short time caused fundamental delays hence the Korean military mental health welfare system was not stabilized. Recently, mental health problems of the Korean armed forces attracted huge amounts of attention from its society. Some important points from the conflict from British medical officers during the First World War are discussed to project possible issues in the Korean military contexts: the dilemma faced by the military in attempting to distinguish between courage, fear and legitimate psychiatric injury, the conflict between medical officers from different fields, the conflict between the doctor’s duty to save life and his need to serve the army’s demand for manpower, the conflict of how to address the phenomenon (mental syndromes), and finally what to do with those servicemen unable to perform the duties of a soldier.