Military toughens regulations on soldiers' use of social media

The defense ministry on Monday announced a set of guidelines on the use of social media by soldiers and vowed to toughen the punishment on those who violate the rule to protect the military's confidential information.

The latest move comes after the military came under criticism after several private soldiers were caught recklessly posting pictures that contain their military information and training scenes on the social networking sites, including Twitter and Facebook. Private soldiers are not allowed to possess cell phones in their barracks.

Under the guidelines, which immediately go into effect, soldiers are not allowed to disclose details about their military units and other information related to their service.

The regulations prevent military officers from possessing unauthorized communication devices, including personal cell phones, and ban private soldiers from bringing their cell phones to barracks. Violators of the rules will face disciplinary actions, the ministry said in a release.

The guidelines advise soldiers not to post writings that insult or mock military in general and recommend military personnel not to defame others' reputation, leak personal information, distribute obscene materials and express their political view, which some point out could infringe upon their freedom of expression.

"The military made the guidelines that boiled down to minimum rules that all soldiers and military personnel need to abide by," said Col. Kim Jeong-soo, in charge of military barrack policy.

Commanders will be in charge of distributing the guidelines to their units, and training soldiers and military personnel, the ministry said.

The military will conduct an internal investigation to look into whether soldiers sneak cell phones into their barracks when they return from vacations or secretly receive them by postal service, officials said. (Yonhap)