Military to fully implement use of mobile phones in barracks

By Jung Da-min

The military is on track to develop an application that prevents soldiers from taking photos with their phones, before fully allowing soldiers to use private mobile phones inside the barracks.

It is thought that if the usage of mobile phones cannot be prevented, then soldiers should be taught how to use them in the “right manner.” In line with that perspective, the military said the development of the mobile application is aimed at providing benefits to soldiers. It added it is reaching out to rank-and-file soldiers to identify potential mobile phone use problems and seeking solutions to them.

Last week, the Ministry of National Defense said it planned to fully apply a policy allowing soldiers to use their phones inside the barracks by the end of this year at earliest. Starting last April, the military has been conducting a pilot program in which all rank-and-file soldiers can use their mobile phones after daily duties, with the program expanding to around 360,000 soldiers so far, more than half of the entire 618,000 military personnel members from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, according to the ministry.

But its recent findings showed some negative aspects as soldiers could access gambling sites and pornographic websites. Among related incidents was a recent investigation over five soldiers at an Army division in Gyeonggi Province for alleged illegal gambling using mobile phones. The scale of the illegal gambling was up to 275 million won ($233,000).

“The ministry assesses that it is necessary to strengthen the educational training and effective measures to prevent recurrence or spread of such incidents,” read the ministry's press release, July 16.

“The full implementation of the policy will likely be effective from the end of this year, but it depends on the progress of the security application stabilization,” ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo said, adding the military is on track to customize the mobile security application to prevent soldiers from recording images or videos inside barracks.

Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said the ministry acknowledged that mobile phones can be used to the military's advantage. However, it added the pilot program needs more time before full implementation, as “unexpected problems” could occur.

According to a recent survey of 4,671 rank-and-file soldiers, 2,236 military officials and 219 counsellors, conducted between May 28 and April 26 by the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), 79.1 percent responded they use mobile phones for one to three hours on weekdays. In the survey, 69.3 percent said they use phones for more than four hours on holidays.

The ministry noted soldiers using their phones off-duty would be positive in improving means of communication for soldiers and their psychological wellbeing while serving their mandatory military service. All able-bodied South Korean males aged between 18 and 38 are required to serve in the military for about two years.

The ministry plans to limit the amount of time soldiers are allowed to use their mobile devices while off duty to 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, and between 8:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends and holidays. The decision was made based on feedback from soldiers that the current time ― from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. for weekdays and from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. for holidays and weekends ― interferes with basic daily tasks such as preparing for roll call. It would be possible for soldiers conducting overseas duties to make video calls at a fixed time and place.