Conscripts allowed to go off base after working hours

Soldiers at the Capital Mechanized Infantry Division rest at their barracks in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, Jan. 31. Yonhap

By Yi Whan-woo

The Ministry of National Defense on Friday began to allow military conscripts to go off base after work on weekdays.

It said the rank-and-file soldiers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps can spend four hours outside camps from 5:30 p.m. It added the soldiers can do so up to twice a month on weekdays.

The measure is to help the conscripts, who were under tight control on weekdays, communicate with society better and ensure sufficient rest before military maneuvers and drills, according to the ministry.

It comes after the ministry ran a pilot operation in 13 units of all four branches of the military last August.

The ministry assessed the soldiers showed signs of improved communication and unity and their morale had also been boosted after meeting with family members and taking care of personal affairs through the pilot operation.

“In the course of the pilot measure, we saw no major problems in maintaining our readiness posture against military emergencies,” a military official said. “There was no sign of lax discipline or problems in carrying out missions at individual units.”

The soldiers are now allowed to leave their posts after work between 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

They can apply for their off-base time to meet friends and relatives, get medical treatments, study or for other personal purposes.

Outstanding conscripts can go off base more than twice a month, if they get permission accordingly as a reward for their achievement.

Regarding group activity, the consumption of alcohol off-base is permitted with the approval of a commander.

When they are off base, the soldiers are required to stay within areas for which their unit takes responsibility in terms of its military maneuvers.

The number of soldiers going off-base, including those on vacation, cannot be more than 35 percent of a unit's entire force.

All able-bodied male adults are obliged to serve in the military for about two years with strict exceptions.

The government has been trying to devise ways to improve the culture of military barracks, which have long been criticized as too closed and repressive for draftees mostly in their early 20s.

For decades, the military restricted conscripts from leaving camps on weekdays to prevent any possible accidents and to have better control over them.