Parents or girlfriends who have their sons or boyfriends in the military will be allowed to visit them during the weekdays, according to the Ministry of National Defense on Sunday. The new law will be effective from Monday.
Currently soldiers were allowed visitors only during the weekend.
The plan for weekday visits is part of a set of measures the ministry adopted to make the military more trustworthy and transparent following a series of hazing incidents that led to growing public distrust toward the military.
On Sunday, the defense ministry said parents or relatives will be able to see their sons or relatives serving mandatory military service in the frontline units near the demilitarized zone dividing South and North Korea. Currently family visits are not allowed to visit these units due to the unique security sensitivity these groups face.
The defense ministry also plans to operate a pilot project allowing soldiers to use cell phones in the barrack. Under this, a soldier representative of each military rank will be given a cell phone from the military and his fellow soldiers will be allowed to use it whenever they want to speak to their friends, families or relatives over the phone.
From this week, an official of the defense ministry told reporters that one military unit will be chosen and given cell phones to test the feasibility of the program.
It remains to be seen whether the cell phone project will be continued after the testing period. A financial constraint is one major reason that the plan may not be feasible as the cell phone barrack project will cost the defense ministry an annual budget of 6 billion won.