Here is more talk about doing away with the mandatory military service system in South Korea, however with the growing tensions with North Korea this is not something that is going to change any time soon:

Friends and family of inmate enter the small visiting rooms at Yeongdeungpo Prison.  From the opposite side of a thick glass window, a man in a blue jumpsuit greets his guests.  His name tag says Paek Seung-Deok.  The 27-year-old has served five months of an eighteen month sentence for refusing to serve in the South Korean army.  Paek speaks to me through an intercom about that decision.  I was a little worried about coming here before I arrived he says, but now I don’t regret my decision at all.  According to South Korean’s national police agency, nearly 1,000 men were arrested last year for evading the draft.  Paek is a conscientious objector, but not everyone fits that description.  Some athletes and entertainers have made headlines here for faking disabilities to get out of serving.  Recently a break dancing troop was busted for pretending to have mental disorders.  Choi Jungmin is with an NGO that represents conscientious objectors like Paek.  She says she never encourages anyone to lie, she just hopes the day will come when the government ends forced conscription.  She says I understand that because of the security situation in Korea we need a military, but the army is operating on a 60-year-old model.  We don’t need such a big military and service should voluntary.  Some security experts agree.  Daniel Pinkston is a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group in Seoul.  He says as the South Korean military adopts more high tech defense systems, it’s going to need to keep soldiers around for longer.  [Jason Strother - PRI The World]

You can read or listen to the entire interview at the link.

ROK Army conscription is something we have discussed quite a bit here at the ROK Drop before even recently.

Mandatory service used to be looked at as serving your country and as being the last gate to pass before you became a real man in Korean society. Now many Koreans view it as something to be avoided. Korea’s younger generation has more important things to do like go to college, work and earn more money, talk on their cell phones, and let’s not forget play Starcraft.  I think a the very least the ROK military should begin now professionalizing their front line combat units along the DMZ.  They should start with one division and begin offering increased pay, benefits, and facilities to determine the right mix of these offers that will attract recruits.  There have been some signs that this may happen with talk of a voluntary service program recruiting 40,000 soldiers.  What is interesting about this proposal is that the cost to fund the program is nearly equal to what the prior South Korean administration was sending to North Korea every year.

Times are changing in South Korea and the ROK military needs to change with it, however if the South Korean government still wants to keep the mandatory service requirement a key component of maintaining force strength, I guess they could always start conscripting females.

Now if the ROK military is manned with soldiers like this there would be no recruiting crisis.