Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
'Fake Korean' slur, suicide attempt highlight military’s struggles with diversity
Army recuits train at a shooting range in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province, June 27, 2023. Courtesy of Republic of Korea Army
By Bahk Eun-ji
1 in 20 conscripts expected to be from multicultural backgrounds by 2030
The quiet of an Army base in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, was shattered one spring afternoon when a 22-year-old private from a multicultural family jumped from a second-floor barracks window. Fellow soldiers had taunted him as a “fake Korean” — a slur that cut deeper than any drill sergeant’s shout. Although he survived, the fall left him with serious spinal injuries.
But his leap caused more than just physical trauma: It forced a reckoning with how South Korea’s military confronts questions of race, identity and a society in transition.
For nearly a decade, the Army has refrained from keeping formal records on recruits from multicultural backgrounds, arguing that identifying them could foster prejudice. But critics say the well-intentioned policy has had the opposite effect, leaving commanders without even a basic grasp of who is serving in their ranks — or what kinds of support those soldiers might require.
The Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA) now estimates that there are around 4,400 soldiers from multicultural backgrounds in uniform and that this figure will double to around 10,000 by 2030 — roughly one in every 20 conscripts.
“These soldiers will become an essential part of Korea’s manpower pool as the birthrate plunges,” Hong Suk-ji, a senior research fellow at KIDA, said. “The military needs to move beyond piecemeal support and embrace true diversity management.”
The soldier at the center of the case, a private, was born to a Chinese father and a North Korean defector mother. Investigators were told that in the weeks leading up to his fall, he had endured repeated taunts, including a racist slur directed at people of Chinese descent and a derogatory term meaning “fake Korean.”
A source familiar with the Army’s internal affairs said that the incident highlights a larger issue.
“By no longer counting multicultural soldiers, the Army has lost sight of who these young men are,” the source said on condition of anonymity. “This blind spot leaves units unable to tailor counseling or training — and often, warning signs are missed until it’s too late.”
The source added that mandatory diversity training, which is technically required twice a year, rarely moves beyond the classroom.
“Most of it is just PowerPoint slides,” he said. “Real change will come only when the culture inside the barracks begins to shift — not simply when recruits sit through another seminar.”
This Oct. 15, 2019, photo shows the signboard of the Center for Military Human Rights in Mapo District, Seoul. Korea Times photo by Park Hyung-gi
In a formal statement, the Army stressed that it is taking the case seriously.
“We recognize the gravity of the accident that occurred in April and have been investigating it ever since,” the Army said. “One fellow soldier has been referred to military prosecutors for abuse, and we will take strict action in accordance with the law and regulations.”
The Army also pledged to work with the Ministry of National Defense “to tighten individual oversight of multicultural soldiers and strengthen measures to prevent future incidents.”
But experts warn that such promises, on their own, are unlikely to be enough.
KIDA estimates show that the number of multicultural soldiers rose from just 51 in 2010 to more than 1,000 by 2018. A projected figure of 10,000 by 2030 is no longer seen as far-fetched.
The military has taken some steps, including offering alternative meals for recruits who do not eat pork and introducing cultural awareness lessons into basic training. But Hong, the KIDA researcher, noted, “These are just surface-level fixes. What’s missing is a structural approach that weaves diversity into the military’s daily life and command structure.”