Tag: ROK military

This has been a long time coming:

 South Korea on Tuesday began accepting applications from men who want to substitute mandatory military service for other public services due to religious or personal beliefs, the military manpower agency said. 

By law, all able-bodied South Korean men must carry out military service for about two years in a country that faces North Korea across one of the world’s most heavily fortified borders. Violators are punished with prison terms.

In December, the National Assembly passed a bill allowing “conscientious objectors” to do 36 months of alternative service at local correctional facilities, instead of joining the military.

Last week, a 29-member committee — comprising lawyers, professors, activists and other experts from various fields — was launched to review the applications.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I have always felt there is more productive things that can be done with consciouses objectors than putting them in jail. It is good to see this now happening.

The staff sergeant who is believed to be the main spreader of the Itaewon infection cluster has also reportedly infected a number of personnel he worked with the at the ROK Cyber Command as well:

 An officer at the South Korean military’s cyber command has tested positive for the new coronavirus in the latest in a series of cases traced to a member of the command infected following a visit to clubs in Seoul’s Itaewon district, the defense ministry said Friday.

The new case raised the total number of infections in the military to 51.

The infected officer is one of the Cyber Operations Command personnel put into quarantine at a military facility in Goesan, some 160 kilometers southeast of Seoul, after having contact with a staff sergeant who contracted the virus following a visit to clubs and bars in Itaewon early this month. 

Nine of the staff sergeant’s colleagues have been infected so far.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This guy had an easy job as it was for his mandatory service and found a way to blow it. They should send him to a frontline military unit to complete this service to send a message to anyone else trying to defraud their mandatory service time:

The Seoul Administrative Court found Tuesday that a man completing his alternative military service working at his father’s company had violated the Military Service Act.  

A 37-year-old man surnamed Yoo had served alternative military service for three years between March 2013 and February 2016 as an expert researcher at an institute approved by the military. After requesting a transfer from the initial institute he was serving at, Yoo spent 14 months, from February 2014 to when he was discharged, at the research institute which is run by a company of which his father was the representative director.

The National Police Agency only uncovered the connection in 2018 while probing the company for another allegation of violating the Protection of Communications Secrets Act. Police found during the probe that Yoo’s father had been the representative director effectively running the research institute. The Military Manpower Administration in turn determined Yoo to have violated the Military Service Act.  

In November 2018, Yoo received a notice from the Military Manpower Administration to serve his compulsory military duty again. However, because Yoo was over 36, he was told to serve as a public service worker. In turn, Yoo filed a suit against the Military Manpower Administration to withdraw its cancellation of his completion of alternative service.  

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see what the ROK military does with this case:

Will South Korea accept a transgender person in the military? 

The Army is examining a “keep or drop” case involving a petty officer who underwent sex-change surgery in Thailand last year while on leave. 

The officer ― who is also seeking to change his legal gender to “female” ― is recuperating from the surgery, hoping to stay in the military.

The Army is planning to hold a meeting next week to decide on the case. If the decision is to keep “him,” he will become the first transgender person in uniform. This could have a far-reaching impact on a society facing heated conflicts over LGBT and gender-based discrimination. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

That is what the National Human Rights Commission of Korea believes:

The nation’s human rights watchdog recommended the Korean Air Force to stop making new trainees shave their heads, Monday, saying the practice is an excessive restriction of the soldiers’ rights.

Unlike their counterparts in the Korean army and navy, air force recruits are required to completely shave their heads during the month-long training period. Army or navy trainees, on the other hand, are allowed to keep a crew cut up to 5 cm length at the front. 

The complaint was brought to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) last April. The complainant ― the parent of an Air Force trainee at the time ― claimed the head-shaving practice was an encroachment on soldiers’ human rights. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

If South Korea’s conscripts get paid minimum wage this will probably lead eventually to a major push to professionalize the force and do away with mandatory service:

Both the public and the government are increasingly aware of soldiers’ right to due monetary compensation, shifting away from considering military service as a statutory civic duty without adequate financial return, experts say. 

“There’s the growing public understanding that we can no longer urge soldiers to serve active duty out of their allegiance or commitment to the country,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University.

Besides, the intense debate regarding the legal minimum wage here has had an impact, he said. 

“We’ve recently had and continue to see a heated debate about setting the minimum wage, and while doing that, I think, we’ve come across the military sector as well — whether conscripted soldiers are paid right doing what they do.” 

Starting this year, sergeants will receive an increased monthly stipend of 540,900 won ($466). Corporals and privates will receive slightly less. The hike marks a 33 percent on-year jump. 

That is about 40 percent of the country’s minimum monthly wage in 2017. 

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Something to remember is that a Patriot battery is not going to protect Seoul against North Korea’s artillery which is the real defense problem for the nation’s capitol:

A Patriot surface-to-air missile battery has recently been installed on Mount Bukak near Cheong Wa Dae in central Seoul, according to political sources, Tuesday. The battery system reportedly consists of a launcher for PAC-2 (Patriot advanced capability-2) missiles and another one for PAC-3 missiles.

The deployment of the unit in Seoul is aimed at strengthening the defense of the capital. The plan was devised after South Korea allowed the United States to deploy a terminal high-altitude area defense (THAAD) battery in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province in 2017. While the THAAD system has strengthened the defense of the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, concerns have been that defense of the capital area was relatively weak.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.