SEOUL, Nov. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — The defense ministry is considering making it mandatory for naturalized male citizens to serve in the military, as other South Korean men must do, in an effort to cope with a decrease in the number of draftees amid a shrinking population, a senior government official said Wednesday. The state-run [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea said Wednesday that it will reduce its number of troops to 500,000 by 2022 in the latest move to tackle looming demographic challenges as Asia’s fourth-largest economy faces a rapidly aging population. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki also said South Korea will reform the country’s military in a [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Jung Yong-hwa, a member of K-pop boy band CNBLUE, was discharged from the military Sunday after fulfilling nearly two years of mandatory service. He thanked his fans and expressed hope that he would return to his job as early as possible during a special fan event at a community [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — As self-development activities using smartphones and a variety of assistance programs are becoming a new trend in the military, many service members said they prefer to study for IT-related certificates. The Defense Media Agency conducted a survey of 854 service members on October 27, asking them about what kind [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — The defense ministry pledged Wednesday to mobilize greater levels of personnel and equipment to complete the removal of landmines across the country by 2021, three years ahead of schedule, to ensure public safety. The military buried about 53,000 M14 antipersonnel mines around 37 military bases across the country between [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Are South Korean soldiers carrying out their mandatory military service financially well off in terms of their life in the barracks, without having to depend on their parents for an allowance? The National Defense Committee at the National Assembly reportedly asked the Ministry of Defense to conduct a study [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean military said Sunday it plans to lower the bar for the conscription of active duty soldiers, as the country’s population is widely expected to shrink drastically. The Ministry of National Defense and the Military Manpower Administration are currently in the process of revising related regulations to [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of rights violation cases involving soldiers has been on a steady increase over the past five years, government data showed Wednesday. A total of 253 complaints were filed by service personnel with the National Human Rights Commission last year, up from 153 in 2015 to 199 in [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Humidifier disinfectants, suspected to have been a cause for at least dozens of deaths, were widely used in military barracks and hospitals in the early 2000s, a state-funded agency revealed Monday, raising speculation that a large number of service members could have been exposed to the chemicals. The Special [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean star actor Kim Soo-hyun was discharged from the military Monday, bracing himself for a return to show business. Meeting with media and fans in front of the Imjingak Peace Bell in Paju, north of Seoul, he thanked his fans for welcoming him. A number of fans from [...]