Via a reader tip comes this story about the poor quality of food that soldiers in the ROK Army are served:
Image from Daum.
A recent National Assembly investigation into food in the military revealed that a South Korean soldier is fed for just ₩2,051 won (1.42EUR/1.85USD) per meal, an amount far lower than that given to American soldiers and even less than most Seoul elementary school pupils receive. Images of inedible-looking barrack meals in the news have recently inspired outrage and accusations that the South Korean military wastes its massive budget.
The member of the National Assembly behind the food budget report also made news recently for revealing another shocking military revelation: according to the most recentMinistry of Defense statistics, 64% of all deaths among members of the armed forces during the past five years have been from suicide. [KoreaBang]
You can read the rest at the link, but I have eaten at ROK Army chow halls before and they served the typical Korean staple dishes of kimchi, rice, noodles, eggs, etc. I thought it was pretty good, but if I had to eat the same food every day I can see how that would get old. As far as the suicide numbers, it isn’t like the ROK Army is in combat right now so it makes since that suicides would make up a large portion of their deaths. So the 64% number in the article really doesn’t mean much. What would be a more interesting statistic is a comparison between the ROK military’s suicide rate and the general population in Korea. Even a comparison between the suicide rates between the ROK and US militaries would be interesting.
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4:57 pm on October 12th, 2012 1
The problem lies in stress societies like South Korean and Japan where suicide rates are high. All South Korean males have to join the army which is quite stressful in top of all the hardcore education.
5:34 pm on October 12th, 2012 2
I’ve ate at quite a few ROK chow halls over the years. With few exceptions the meal was edible but plain (also often repetitive) and the portions less than one would expect (especially at a training location). It was not uncommon to see the troops head back to the barracks (with their metal meal tray still in hand – they maintain their own tray in many cases) to cook up some communal ramyen.
6:06 pm on October 12th, 2012 3
I got put in a 2 week USA-ROKA exchange program and had an extended stay with a Quartermaster battalion in the Chunchon area. I found the food substandard. In the morning we ate what looked like a miniature soybean hamburger smeared with jelly with a small carton of milk. Lunch and dinner was some sort of noodle entree or ramen with the usual kimchi selections and rice. The portions were small and I might have eaten meat twice. One instance involved a soup with bean spouts and a couple dried minnows. The other was Jajangmyun. I remember the Jajangmyun lunch well as all my fellow Lieutenants were excited we would have meat. I remember biting into some spongy something which might have been meat. And this was the officers mess. I got to see the enlisted food a couple times. They always had rice, kimchi and some sort of yellow gruel.
During my time with this unit, I got to go up to the DMZ and ate two meals with ROK combat units. While the kids in these units would probably not think much of the meals, I found them to be very good! Much more like a traditional spread.
6:57 pm on October 12th, 2012 4
“and the portions less than one would expect”
Sure, when you’re a 500 pound tub of lard, I’m sure that was a small portion for you.
8:22 pm on October 12th, 2012 5
I almost agree with Tom’s statement, I could find a smoother way to say it though. I guess I can’t get quite to the point like a Canadian can.
8:25 pm on October 12th, 2012 6
5. Except I was 6’3″ and weighed 180 pounds at that time.
Tom is uniquely unqualified to post in any thread concerning the ROK military. We all know he can’t step foot in Korea because once his ass hits Incheon, he’ll be drafted. No KATUSA staus for you, boy. He has shirked his responsibility to stand in defense of his own beloved country all the while belittling the service of foreigners who do so voluntarily.
8:33 pm on October 12th, 2012 7
6. I definitely did not mean you specifically. I was referring to deployed personnel who only have time for their admin types of duties and time for eating in pretty damn good dining facilities (not usually their fault, it’s the nature of the beast). They come back after 12-15 months and struggle to get back to the PT norm.
8:35 pm on October 12th, 2012 8
“5. Except I was 6’3″ and weighed 180 pounds at that time.”
“At that time”? What are you now? 300 pounds?
If you lose all that lard, you’ll not only feel better, but you won’t feel so hungry either. Americans live on meat with every meal. That’s unnatural and harmful. It’s one of the biggest reasons why America’s life span is far less than Korea’s average life span. You guys suffer from so many colon and prostate cancers due to overconsumption of high cholestrol meat.
8:53 pm on October 12th, 2012 9
Except for the slanderous first remarks, Tom is right again. Man this hurts. I think the only thing that would take away the pain is a good ‘Murican steak. None of that Canadian Mad Cow shit for me! Eh, Tom? Ehhhh?
9:27 pm on October 12th, 2012 10
Average life expectancy in South Korea is nearly identical to that in the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy
Rokdrop,
Can you please put Tom on the spam list? He doesn’t contribute in any meaningful ways, spreads lies (suprise suprise, he’s Korean), and he is just a troll…an unimaginative troll at that.
Can I get a second to the motion?
9:32 pm on October 12th, 2012 11
Ban the whole ip range that Tom the fugitive katusa draftee is using.
He and his sock puppets have gotten very boring.
Or at least shadow ban him.
9:40 pm on October 12th, 2012 12
Meh, let him stay. Some days I just ignore him, but other days I feel a need to stoop down to his level. It can be fun down here with all the little trolls. Hey, Tom…how do you blind a Korean? Put a windshield in front of them.
10:28 pm on October 12th, 2012 13
#11, why ban him? He is doing more good than harm for the readers of this blog. Tom is hated by all on this blog and I bet Koreans reading this blog also find him full of kimchi.
1:39 am on October 13th, 2012 14
What did the Korean husband say to his Korean wife with two black eyes?
Nothing. He already told her twice.
2:22 am on October 13th, 2012 15
#9,
Beef? I never eat beef in Canada. Why would I when we have deer and moose running everywhere? And when I have to buy meat, I get bison.
3:05 am on October 13th, 2012 16
I’ve read recently that the suicide rate in S. Korea overall is among the highest of the industrialized nations, but 64% of military deaths
is a really high number.
The enlisted guys are all conscripts, serve a minimum of two years, usually sleep together in one “barracks”, share latrine, showers, etc, get paid like 10K Won per month, have their college studies, relationships interrupted, so it’s not easy to see how the food would be the biggest issue. Not sure how much annual LV they are given.
4:51 am on October 13th, 2012 17
The only ones spreading lies are you guys.
The life expectancy of Koreans in 2010 was over 81 years old, which is far higher than America’s 78 years old, and higher than the OECD average.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2012/07/113_114186.html
Baek-in-jae, your Wiki figure are just averages from 2005-2010. In other words, outdated.
How am I spreading lies?
There was even a discussion here back in 2009, why America’s life expectancy sucks compared to Korea’s
http://rokdrop.com/2009/12/10/south-korean-life-expectancy-tops-80-years-old/
4:52 am on October 13th, 2012 18
#15 Agreed. Moose is some of the best meat you’ll ever have and little beats a buffalo burger. Far less chance of them having been fed a steady diet of hormones and antibiotics all their lives either.
5:13 am on October 13th, 2012 19
Morbidly obese American woman left to die on a chair for three weeks, her flesh rotted on the chair, but she was still alive when the rescuers got there. They couldn’t even get her off the chair.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120203/NEWS01/120203041/Morbidly-obese-woman-left-decompose-chair?nclick_check=1
It’s too bad this woman didn’t get to eat in the Korean army mess hall.
6:01 am on October 13th, 2012 20
Tom, do you troll all day long and stroke your small mushroom tip in between bouts of porn surfing white non-American women who you fantisize fetish small Asian sizes?
6:11 am on October 13th, 2012 21
Tom,
Koreans are the ones complaining about the food the conscripts are being served. Frankly, if they spend 2000 won per meal, it’s probably no worse than what they serve at my school’s cafeteria since a meal is 2800won there. I eat there about three times a week. Rice and soup makes a fine lunch, as far as I’m concerned.
6:17 am on October 13th, 2012 22
Tom just wants to stir up racism. It’s all he has, seeing most of us “evil white guys” have spent more time “in Korea” than he has (or ever can).
6:30 am on October 13th, 2012 23
Have you tried their equivalent to the US Army’s MRE? DFAC food and MREs are complained about the world over. I don’t know a single US Army Soldier who doesn’t complain about their DFAC. This is a sensationalized subject if I have ever seen one. And, by the way, I have eaten in both Armies DFACs and eaten both Armies MREs.But, maybe it’s a matter of perspective. Some eat in or having just left a sweaty trenchline, and others are suffering admin duties Gangnam Style.
2:27 pm on October 13th, 2012 24
8. Sorry. I’m now up to 200-210 lbs, at the same height of course. I do not eat steak and red meat daily and many of my relatives – who did eat red meat daily have lived well into their 80′s and 90′s (excluding those who died defending Korea).
Tom should definitely not be banned and no I do not hate him. It is good to hear from opposing viewpoints, even if they are meant to incite. There are people out there who think like he purports himself to. Besides, he does spark comments at times and a good troll can be like gold to a blog. Every blog needs one.
5:03 pm on October 13th, 2012 25
#23: I was lucky that most of the DFACs I ate at were awesome. Not too many complaints coming from me. Truth be told, I think I ate better at Army Dining Facilities than I do now. Grabbing a quick lunch now usually means BK or Popeyes.
7:42 am on October 14th, 2012 26
#23,
I’ve had plenty of Canadian IMPs and American MREs. The IMPs are far better than the MREs, or at least they were last time I had IMPs. In any case, although the MREs aren’t exactly fine dining, I found that when you’re starving after having spent a good part of the day out in the field, they do what they are supposed to do very well: fill you up and give you energy. Eating MREs as a regular meal, though…I can understand why many people complain.
7:41 pm on October 14th, 2012 27
I’ve eaten at their dining facilities, and I admit that I wouldn’t be able to eat there everyday three times a day, and be able to carry a heavy rucksack for several hours at a time through those mountains.
8:33 pm on October 14th, 2012 28
Just eat Kalbi, Bulgogi, Neobiani, etc. with kongbap and banchans.
9:00 pm on October 14th, 2012 29
You don’t need to pluralize “banchan” (반찬), as the word itself implies multiple side dishes.
9:02 pm on October 14th, 2012 30
Guitard, there are different kinds of banchans in portion.
9:52 pm on October 14th, 2012 31
OK ~ then why don’t you say “반찬들” in Korean when you are referring to “different kinds of banchans in portion?”
It’s like the word deer ~ the singular and plural forms are the same.
4:46 am on October 15th, 2012 32
That image is pretty much what the school cafeterias serve up three days a week to cost supplement the two days when they splurge. Scant as it may be, it’s still plenty enough to live off.