Defense ministry denies voluntary enlistment, non-combatant soldiers
A military chef cooks pumpkins for South Korea's 5th Armor Brigade, in this Sept. 26 2015 file photo. The Ministry of National Defense denied Monday controversial news reports that it was considering voluntary enlistment and outsourcing non-combatant soldiers' duties to the private sector. / Courtesy of Republic of Korea Armed Forces
By Ko Dong-hwan
The Ministry of National Defense has denied controversial news reports that it is considering voluntary enlistment and outsourcing non-combatant soldiers' duties to the private sector.
The reports about a ministry plan to reorganize military functions to maximize efficiency, published Sunday, cited an analysis made for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One report from TV news outlet Channel A said the ministry tentatively planned to replace soldiers working as drivers, chefs and cashiers at convenience stores in barracks. Also gardening duties and clearing snow from roads were also expected to be outsourced.
“The Channel A news used a report made by a private company commissioned by the JCS and reported it as though the ministry was officially going to adopt it,” a spokesman told The Korea Times. “Items in the report were either mere ideas or things we never even considered.”
The spokesman said the ministry was not considering voluntary enlistment but was thinking about how to use non-combatant soldiers differently to improve military efficiency.
A military chef cooks pumpkins for South Korea's 5th Armor Brigade, in this Sept. 26 2015 file photo. / Courtesy of Republic of Korea Armed Forces
Critic of the news report said that replacing non-combatant soldiers with private employees would hamper some basic functions. They claimed that if soldiers did not clear snow immediately, it could freeze on roads and this would cause problems in performing strategic tasks. They also said that private chefs would not have been trained to go to war and so soldiers could be left without food in a crisis.
The possible replacement would raise the proportion of civilians and civil servants working at military bases from 5 percent to 10 percent. It would also raise wage costs, because the civilians would not work for the low money paid to soldiers. As of 2018, drafted soldiers serve for 21 months and earn from 300,000 to 400,000 won ($280-$372) a month.
Amid sporadic reports of abuse of subordinates by their superiors at barracks, Defense Minister Song Young-moo said in 2017 he would “create a pleasant military culture” so young South Korean men would happily volunteer and their parents could have peace of mind about their service.
There has been expectation that the enlistment period could be reduced. However, it is uncertain if and when this will happen after Liberty Korea Party Rep. Kim Hack-yong from the National Assembly National Defense Committee quoted defense ministry officials as saying nothing had been planned to date.