Tag: ROK Army

If you ever wondered how much a South Korean conscript to include the KATUSA soldiers assigned to US military units make, the answer is not much:

Conscript soldiers’ pay will increase in 2018 to 30 percent of this year’s minimum wage of an annual 1,352,230 won ($1,189.8). This means all draftees will receive 405,669 won, almost double the current 216,000 won. The announcement was made Monday at a regular press briefing by the State Affairs Planning Advisory Committee, President Moon Jae-in’s de facto power transition team.

Pay will be incrementally increased to 40 percent of the minimum wage by 2020, and reach 50 percent by 2022, equivalent to 540,892 won and 676,115 won, respectively.

The move is part of “fulfilling (Moon’s) national defense plan to increase soldiers’ pay,” committee spokesman Park Kwong-on said. President Moon had vowed better treatment for conscripted soldiers ― all able-bodied Korean men aged between 18 and 35 must serve in the military for up to 21 months.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but diving $1,189 annual salary by 12 months means the ROK conscripts are making roughly $99 a month.  The cost savings from mandatory service is why the ROK military will never become a volunteer only military.

The deputy commanding general of the 2nd Infantry Division has his game face on as he receives an award from the 2ID commander Major General Martin:

A Korean two-star general has received a U.S. military award for his contribution to the ROK-U.S. Combined Division.

According to the Army, Thursday, Maj. Gen. Yin Sung-hwan, the commander of the 56th Infantry Division, got the Legion of Merit ― a decoration issued to members of the U.S. Armed Forces as well as to military personnel of foreign nations.

The Combined Division, comprised of the 2nd Infantry Division (2ID) of the Eighth U.S. Army and the 16th Brigade from the ROK Army, was established in 2015 to effectively contain North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction. Yin served as the deputy commander for one year. The division is headed by the 2ID commander.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see if this drug arrest and possible dishonorable discharge from the ROK military will effect his K-Pop career:

T.O.P of K-pop boy band BIGBANG was officially suspended from mandatory military service on Friday after being indicted for smoking marijuana on multiple occasions.

T.O.P, whose real name is Choi Seung-hyun, is accused of smoking the banned substance four times with a trainee female singer, 21, at his home in Yongsan-gu, Seoul last October.

Choi, who began his military service as a policeman in February, was indicted without detention Monday. He was admitted to Ewha Womans University Medical Center in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul the next day suffering from an apparent overdose of benzodiazepine. He became unconscious.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

It seems the judge found middle ground here because the officer was convicted of the crime of sodomy, but he did not sentence him to jail since it was suspended for one year.  So basically the officer has to stay out of trouble for one year to avoid going to jail.  What I am wondering and the article does not clarify was if he was having a relationship with one of his subordinates?  Whether you are gay or straight this is something that should not be going on in the military:

South Korea’s military court sentenced an Army captain to six months in prison, suspended for a year, Wednesday on charges of having sex with a fellow male soldier, a civic group said.

The captain, whose identity was withheld, was convicted for violating the Military Criminal Act, according to the Center for Military Human Rights Korea. Under the law, a soldier who commits “sodomy” or “other disgraceful conduct” can face up to two years in prison.

“It is a bizarre clause that only has a perpetrator, without a victim,” the group said in a press release, adding the captain had sexual intercourse at a private place under consent.

The defendant, however, will not appeal the ruling, according to an official at the group.

“The captain was fulfilling his military duty and was originally scheduled to be discharged in April,” the official said. “If he appeals the ruling he will have to stay in the military without knowing when the legal battle will be finished.”

The captain collapsed after the ruling was delivered and was transferred to a nearby hospital but is known to have left the hospital in stable condition, according to the official.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

A South Korean Army artillery unit fires a K-55 self-propelled howitzer during a live-fire drill at a training range in the South Korean border city of Paju, north of Seoul, on May 22, 2017, one day after North Korea test-fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile the previous day. (Yonhap) (

Here is the latest scandal that the ROK military is responding to:

The South Korean military is currently accused of systematically tracking down homosexual soldiers.

According to the Military Human Rights Center for Korea (MHRCK), Jang Jun-kyu, Chief of Staff for the South Korean army, had ordered a probe to track down gay men in the military (not just the army). The MHRCK claims that Jang and the army’s central cyber investigation team conducted a secret nationwide investigation in February and March, monitoring soldiers through phone-tapping, monitoring gay-dating apps, and conducting one-on-one investigations.

According to the MHRCK, the army’s alleged attempt to establish a “gay blacklist,” as the scandal is being dubbed by some local media, began after a video surfaced online sometime earlier this year. In the video, which is no longer available to the public, a male soldier is having sexual intercourse with another male officer.  [Korea Expose]

You can read the rest at the link, but the MHRCK are now calling for the head of the ROK Army to resign for launching the probe:

South Korea’s army chief is facing calls to resign amid claims he ordered a nationwide probe to root out and prosecute gay personnel.

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article.  According to campaign group the Military Human Rights Center for Korea, General Jang Jun-kyu, army chief of staff, launched a “track-down process” that pinpointed about 50 soldiers, 20 of whom now face charges under military anti-homosexuality laws.  [Financial Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but if General Jang was enforcing ROK Army policy I don’t see any way he resigns.  If someone does not like the policy then campaign to get it changed instead of trying to get someone to resign who is enforcing it.

A soldier kisses his son during a send-off ceremony in Incheon, west of Seoul, on March 29, 2017, for the 19th contingent of the 317-member Dongmyeong unit heading to Lebanon next month to replace their comrades serving as United Nations peacekeepers there. The unit has been stationed in Lebanon since 2007 as part of the U.N. interim forces’ efforts to oversee a cease-fire and maintain a buffer zone between Lebanon and Israel. (Yonhap)

It looks like the ROK military like the US military has taken a very strong stance against prostitution:

Three Korea Military Academy (KMA) cadets were expelled a day before their graduation for allegedly visiting prostitutes, the elite school said on Friday.

“We received intelligence regarding their illegal activity on Monday and it was proven grounded through an internal investigation,” a KMA official said.

The official said the three visited a “massage parlor” in Gangnam, an entertainment district in southern Seoul, on Feb. 4. “One of the cadets admitted having sex there, while the others claim they didn’t, arguing they paid money but didn’t (have sex) out of a sense of guilt,” the official said.

A separate police investigation is under way, the official said.

The KMA had it 73rd commencement on Friday with 248 graduates who will be commissioned as Army second lieutenants. The highest distinction, summa cum laude, went to female cadet Lee Eun-ae.   [Korea Times]

Towed artillery guns fire as soldiers of the Army’s 23rd Infantry Division conduct a live-fire drill against a potential landing enemy along the shore in Gangneung, a coastal city in South Korea’s northeastern province of Gangwon, on Jan. 10, 2017. (Yonhap)

Kim Jae-joong, a member of boy band JYJ, salutes fans and reporters after being discharged from military service on Dec. 30, 2016, at an Army infantry division in Yongin, south of Seoul. Kim served 21 months in compulsory military duty. (Yonhap)