SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Yonhap) – The defense ministry said Tuesday it is not considering conscripting women for the country’s mandatory military service after the issue received renewed attention in a campaign pledge ahead of the April general elections.
On Monday, the leader of the newly created Reformative Conservative Party, Lee Jun-seok, proposed having women serve in the military first if they want to apply for jobs as police officers or firefighter as a campaign pledge.
When asked about the possibility of female conscription, the ministry’s spokesperson Jeon Ha-kyou denied considering it.
In South Korea, all able-bodied men must serve mandatory military service for at least 18 months, while women can volunteer for military duty as officers or noncommissioned officers.
I wonder why the Korean government doesn’t draft women. According to the article, women can serve in the military as non-commissioned officers or officers, but don’t non-commissioned officers and officers need more physical abilities and skills than regular soldiers?
No. Officers and NCOs are more managers.
The higher rank you have the more paperwork you do. Especially if you aren’t in a front line trade.
And I am sure the south korean public will have a calm and thoughtful discussion about it.
Presumably they women will need to stay back and improve the country’s anaemic birth rate
