A military cook prepares meals for troops at an Air Force base in Seoul on June 6, 2021, in this photo provided by the defense ministry.
SEOUL, June 17 (Korea Bizwire) — An additional 1,000 troops will be assigned to cooking duties as part of efforts to improve the quality of meals while at the same time preventing them from overworking, the defense ministry said Thursday.
Starting later this year, the military will reduce the number of troops at administrative support branches and increase the quota allocated for cooking tasks, according to the ministry.
The move is aimed at improving service members’ living conditions, including a plan to raise the average daily meal cost, following criticism that soldiers, especially those under coronavirus quarantine, are poorly fed.
As part of the efforts, the ministry said it will buy various cooking utensils, such as ovens and vegetable cutting machines, to reduce military cooks’ burden and push for the deployment of cooking robots to do repetitive tasks.
The military has come under fire after active-duty soldiers uploaded photos of their meals on a Facebook page that serves as an anonymous bulletin board for troops, leading to Defense Minister Suh Wook’s apology.
Earlier this month, the government launched an interagency task force to come up with measures to improve the situation and said the military will raise the average daily meal cost for service members by 14 percent to 10,000 won (US$9) next month.
(Yonhap)
