6 in 10 Koreans back mandatory military service for women
Cadets conduct tactical drills during the commissioning evaluation for bachelor's and female officer candidates at the Korea Army Cadet Military School in Goesan County, North Chungcheong Province, in May 2012. Korea Times file
Six in 10 Koreans support mandatory military enlistment for women, a recent poll showed. Nearly half also supported President Lee Jae Myung’s proposal for “selective enlistment,” outnumbering opponents of the plan by a small margin. A closer analysis by demographic group, however, showed that both men and women in their 20s and 30s, who would be most directly affected by the system, strongly opposed the idea.
The Reform Institute, a think tank affiliated with the Reform Party, released the results Wednesday of a survey on public perceptions of the military service system.
Some 59.6 percent of respondents supported including women in the military draft to address the decline in eligible recruits, according to the institute. Of those, 23.9 percent said they “strongly support” the proposal, while 35.7 percent said they “generally support” it. Opposition, meanwhile, stood at 34 percent. Both men and women broadly supported the idea, with support reaching 64.8 percent and 54.5 percent, respectively. The survey was conducted Tuesday among 1,006 adults aged 18 and older nationwide.
Selective enlistment, a pledge made by Lee during his presidential campaign, received slightly more support than opposition, at 47.4 percent to 41.9 percent. Of the supportive responses, 19.5 percent “strongly supported” the proposal, while 27.9 percent “generally supported” it.
Recently brought up again by Lee, the system centers on creating positions for “technology-intensive NCOs” specializing in advanced science and technology fields relevant to warfare, such as manned-unmanned teaming systems and artificial intelligence.
Unlike the overall results, however, opposition was pronounced among those of military service age. The proportion who strongly opposed the proposal stood at 41.1 percent among those aged 18 to 29 and 41.2 percent among those in their 30s, roughly twice the figures for people in their 40s, at 25.4 percent, and those in their 50s, at 20.3 percent.
Skepticism also prevailed over whether selective enlistment would help resolve troop shortages. Some 49.9 percent said it would not help, compared with 42.7 percent who said it would. In particular, 47.3 percent of respondents aged 18 to 29 and 44.2 percent of those in their 30s said it would not help at all, more than twice the 17 percent recorded among those in their 50s. The results suggest that generations preparing for military service or having recently completed it are more doubtful about the system’s effectiveness.
When asked about the future direction of the military service system, 41.5 percent favored combining conscription with voluntary enlistment, the largest share. This was followed by 35.4 percent who supported maintaining the current conscription system and 10.6 percent who favored a complete transition to an all-volunteer force.
Among respondents aged 18 to 29 and those in their 30s, however, maintaining the current conscription system was the most popular choice, at 48.3 percent and 47.6 percent, respectively.
“While support for the selective enlistment system was high among the general population, 41 percent of people in their 20s and 30s, who would be directly subject to the policy, strongly opposed the idea regardless of gender,” Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok said. “Military service reform needs to begin by securing a consensus among the younger population who will actually be required to serve.”
The survey was conducted entirely through random-digit dialing to mobile phones. It had a response rate of 2.3 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.