Conscription
Military Manpower Administration (MMA)

There are frequent reports of bullying and violence against conscripts in South Korea's 600,000-man army. According to unconfirmed news reports, approximately 100 conscripts have committed suicide each year due to military hazing . Official sources indicate that not all of the suicides were caused by such hazing, alleging that mental illnesses and personal issues also were factors. Various forms of abuse of draftees are common, in part becauset the NCO's are often poorly educated and from a lower class than most of the recruits, and the NCO's relish the opportunity to inflict pain on people that they know would look down on them if they were outside the military.

By comparison, a total of 341 Russian military personnel killed themselves in 2007. According to US military officials, at least 128 soldiers killed themselves in 2008. There were 115 suicides among U.S. soldiers in 2007, 102 in 2006, and 64 in 2004. The 2008 figure of 128 is the highest since record-keeping began in 1980 and works out to a rate of 20.2 per 100,000 soldiers.

The Military Manpower Administration (MMA) performs a number of vital military personnel functions. The Military Manpower Administration administers South Korea's military conscription system, manages military personnel resources, and organizes regional reserve units and wartime mobilization.

As the 1990s began, the armed forces remained the largest and most influential government organization in South Korea. Over 75 percent of South Korean males over the age of twenty had served in the regular army, the reserves, or the Homeland Reserve Force, or had been assigned duties supporting the armed forces under the Conscription Law of 1949.

All males, except for a small percentage of individuals considered physically or socially undesirable for military service, could be drafted into the army. In 1990 there were 407,000 males nineteen years of age who were required to register for military service. Approximately 9.2 percent of these young men were rejected for conscription for one of the following reasons: having a physical or mental disability; possessing a criminal record; being an orphan; and being born out of wedlock or having one parent who was not a South Korean citizen. Conscripts were required to have at least an elementary school education; 77 percent of those drafted had at least a high school education.

Celebrities are no exception. Just as students defer their studies and office workers request extended leaves of absence from their employers, actors and singers too are expected to put their careers on hold. Some Korean entertainers try to escape military conscription by pledging medical conditions making them unsuitable for conscription. Most Korean entertainers under 35, try very hard to maintain their registration as students, thus, bidding time to further their careers. However not all Korean entertainers are / were dodging the dreaded military service.

The Government of the Republic of Korea does not recognize dual citizenship. Men must choose a single nationality by March 31 of the year they turn 18 years old, and women by the age of 21. If men do not select a nationality by that date, the Korean government will consider them to have chosen Korean nationality, and they will be obligated to serve duty in the Korean military. In addition, all Korean males who were born in the U.S. to Korean parents but are not registered in the Korean Family Relations Certificate (formerly known as the Family Census Register) are not considered to be Korean citizens and thus are not subject to military duty. Although having one's name on the Korean Family Relations Certificate does not necessarily mean that one is a Korean citizen, it is probably advisable to have it removed if a dual national decides on U.S. nationality. A person's name is not automatically removed from the Korean Family Relations Certificate simply because he or she is a U.S. citizen.

Any male with dual citizenship whose name appears on the Korean Family Relations Certificate must fulfill his military obligation unless he has surrendered his Korean nationality before March 30 of the year he turns 18 years old. A U.S. citizen male in this situation must notify Korean authorities of his parents' immigration status, renounce his Korean citizenship, and remove his name from the Korean Family Relations Certificate. If a U.S. citizen male fails to remove his name from the Korean Family Relations Certificate, Korean authorities may require that he serve in the Korean military if he lives in Korea or visits Korea during conscription age (18 to 35 years of age).

A male who was born in the U.S., and whose name is on the Korean Family Relations Certificate, and whose Korean citizen parents lived only temporarily outside Korea, may not renounce his Korean citizenship until he completes his service in the Korean military. A U.S. citizen male who was born in Korea, who lives in Korea, and whose name is on the Korean Family Relations Certificate may not renounce his Korean citizenship until he serves in the Korean military.

There have been several instances in which young U.S. citizen men of Korean descent -- who were born in and lived all of their lives in the United States -- arrived in Korea as tourists only to be drafted into the Republic of Korea army. At least two of these cases involved individuals whose names had been recorded on the Korean Family Relations Certificate without their knowledge.

In the 1980s, in addition to their regular military duties, military units continued the traditional practice of aiding farmers in planting and harvesting rice, assisting civil authorities in preventing loss of life and property during and following natural disasters, delivering medical services in rural areas, and providing other social services. In 1987 a total of 561,000 military personnel helped local farmers plant their rice, and 392,000 military personnel were made available for harvesting the crop. The army and the Homeland Reserve Force--more than 1 million troops--were mobilized in July 1987 to perform rescue operations and repair wind and flood damage caused by a typhoon. Stranded civilians were evacuated to safety, temporary dikes were constructed to prevent flood damage, debris was cleared from roads, and temporary shelters were constructed for the homeless.

During both the Park and Chun administrations, students who frequently demonstrated against the government had been expelled from school and drafted into the army, where they were treated harshly unless they demonstrated a willingness to accept government doctrine on opposing communism, promoting the common good of society, and showing respect for military and political power figures. In the Defense White Paper, 1988, the Roh administration announced that new conscription policies had been formulated that would standardize selection procedures and end past abuses. Officers and noncommissioned officers (NCOs) were under orders to follow a new military protocol that respected the rights of soldiers as citizens. Another measure announced in 1988 was the abolition of the Student Defense Corps, a military training organization established at South Korean colleges in 1969 to provide mandatory lectures on the government's national security policies and mobilization plans and instruction in handling weapons and military tactics.

By 1990 the Air Force was an all-volunteer force. The Military Manpower Agency was responsible for assigning recruits to the army, navy, marines, the Korean Augmentation of the United States Army (KATUSA), and the combat police units of the Korean National Police. Recruits could request assignment to a particular service and were assigned based on their education, technical skills, and physical condition. About 85 percent of eligible recruits were drafted for periods of between thirty and thirty-six months. Candidates for the KATUSA program were required to be high school graduates with some English-language training. In 1990 approximately 5,000 men in KATUSA served with the United States Army units in South Korea.

The conscription system was flexible and allowed most young men to plan their service in a way that would promote their individual career goals. High school graduates who had been accepted into a college or technical school or who were attending such schools were granted deferments. Conscripts with good education records and aptitudes suited to particular military specialties were selected to be trained as specialists in combat support branches such as signals, ordnance, and engineers. Even conscripts assigned to combat, however, were encouraged to take classes during their terms of duty to prepare for employment when they left the service.

The army, navy, and air force each had a full range of recruit training centers, schools for technical military occupational specialties, and officer training courses. Army recruits were transported from provincial induction centers to one of the Second Army's recruit training centers for basic training. Each branch of the army had one or more schools that offered curricula for enlisted personnel, NCOs, and officers. The large number of schools and the diversified training programs available to servicemen supported the army's need for skilled personnel to use, maintain, repair, and resupply combat forces during wartime. The air force had schools for pilots, air technicians, communication and electronics specialists, aircraft maintenance specialists, and air traffic controllers. The navy had its own schools oriented to the needs of the three fleets and the marine corps.

All officers and enlisted personnel were closely supervised and had to obey strict security regulations that limited their contacts with civilians, including their own families. All military personnel were provided with food, clothing, housing, and medical services. A variety of entertainment and recreational programs were organized on military installations to reduce boredom and promote the physical health and morale of service personnel.

Prior to 2005 mixed-race Koreans were barred from serving in the military. This was mostly out of fear that visibly mixed-race Koreans would find it overly difficult to adjust to barracks life, which is tough enough for young men to endure as it is, even without being subject to abuse on account of their race. Then in early 2006, the Military Manpower Administration announced that revisions to the military conscription law passed in June 2005 made it possible for mixed-race Korean to voluntarily enlist for military service.

In late 2005 ministry and the Military Manpower Administration (MMA) were considering whether to shorten the 24-month military service period of the Army and the Marine Corps by up to six months. The Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, an affiliate of the Ministry of National Defense, told the Roh administration that any reduction of service period would not be feasible at least until 2009 and a two-month reduction from the 24-month mandatory service beginning 2011 would be appropriate. But Roh rejected the recommendation and pushed for cutting the service period by six to seven months in stages from January 2008. Under Roh's "Vision 2030, 2+5 Strategy," initiative announced in 2007, the service period would be reduced by six months for the Army and Navy in stages by 2014. The period for the Air Force would be shortened by eight months. The compulsory service period was 24 months for the Army and Marines, 26 months for the Navy and 27 months for the Air Force.

The Defense Reform 2020 called for creating new barrack culture so that parents can send their children to the military service without anxiety. To help enlisted soldiers regard their military service period as a period in their life for self-cultivation, the ROK Armed Forces will shape conditions for self-regulated barrack life, establish an e-learning system and modernize military installations. The Minister of National Defense was diredted in 2007 to improve and develop the barrack culture by guaranteeing the basic rights of soldiers on duty and by enhancing the pride of their military service through minimizing the factors of cultural conflict so that the soldiers can execute their assignments properly.

Improvements to the barracks facilities are focused on the transition of living halls to squad-level quarters with individual beds and provide a fairly large space for personal use in thought of the new-age servicemen's growth environment. Rather than maintaining the basic "accommodation" concept of the military living space, converting into a "dwelling"concept is the center of modifications.

The barracks life of servicemen is improved to aid to switch to a self-disciplined daily activity timetable. Servicemen can voluntarily participate in creating a barracks culture, and after duty work, personal time is expanded until midnight to make self-development possible. By distinctively dividing military life and personal time through applying the concept of "Going Home from Work,"a liberating atmosphere can be induced while keeping military discipline and rules alive, and creating conditions for a self-disciplined lifestyle. However, those who fail to reach personal training standards are restricted in the amount of personal freedom they are given.

The alternative service system refers to a public service in place of active military duty to utilize surplus human resources after filling the quota for servicemen on active duty. Currently, the kinds of alternative services in operation include the conversion service system, service as a specialist research member, skilled industrial technician, public sanitation doctor and public law officer, system of public service member, international cooperation doctor, etc. Recently the need for a general and fundamental review regarding alternative service is gaining momentum as a result of various requests for expanding cases for exemption from military service. Such groups include athletes, artists, and conscientious objectors.

In December 2005, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea [NHRCK] recommended the Korean government to introduce the alternative service after confirming that the right to object to military service must be protected under Article 19 of the Constitution and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea was established in 2001, offering investigation and remedy services for Korean citizens and foreigners residing in Korea against human rights violations and discrimination. A total of 372 complaints against human rights abuses in the military were submitted to the NHRCK from its establishment through 2006. Of these, 107 requested clarification of causes of death. Forty one of these 107 complaints (38.3%) were found to pertain to problems with adaptation to military service. Of 69 complaints requesting punishment of persons who perpetrated cruel acts, 61 (88.4%) were related to adaptation problems. The NHRCK determined that it was necessary to take proactive measures to address the situation.

According to a 2006 investigation by the Armed Forces, 697 out of 1,085 (64.2%) escapes from military units per year were due to adaptation problems, as were many suicides and assaults. This situation reaffirmed the need for comprehensive actions on behalf of soldiers suffering from adaptation problems.

All seven BTS members are now enlisted in the military,. as Jimin and Jungkook began their mandatory service 12 December 2023. Fans have to wait until at least 2025 to see the whole group back together again. Starting with Jin in December 2022, the entirety of BTS was now be serving their country. Jin will be discharged first in June 2024, but BTS fans will have to wait until at least June 2025 when the final members are discharged before they can see BTS back together again.

Just like their fandom name ARMY, most of the members will be serving in the army, apart from Suga who is serving in social services due to a shoulder cartilage injury. J-hope, the group's main performance dancer, joined the army in April this year and will be discharged in October 2024. The four members --RM, V, Jimin, Jungkook --who joined this week are all set to be discharged in June 2025.

As some members will begin their solo endeavors after their discharge, hopes are high that they will gather together in 2025 and re-initiate their second chapter as a group. As the group's recently-renewed contract period begins in 2025, they could release part two of their album "The Most Beautiful Moment in Life", which will mark its 10 year anniversary in the year of their discharge. V left a message on his social media that they have prepared much content for during their military service, suggesting the release of various content for their fans.

On December 20th, BTS released a documentary titled "BTS Monuments: Beyond The Star" which shows their 10-year journey since their debut. A culture critic says that their absence could be a chance for the spotlight to shine on other K-pop artists as well.