| Publication |
2011.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Military conscription is a mechanism designed to develop troops and their capabilities,
which are the foundation for creating military strength, and it is inextricably related
to military manpower structure, military management system, and military structure.
Accordingly, we cannot ignore the implications of military service policies for
successful military reform and the transformation of military strength. Since
2006, Korea has been pursuing national defense reforms with a view to shifting
from a troop-focused quantitative military structure to a technology-intensive
military structure and has thus been carrying out a series of military service
reform plans. However, a rapid shift in policy direction and reasonable modifications
and adjustments of the implementation plan are constantly needed since the geostrategic and economic environment surrounding Korea, its demographic and social
environment, military technology development, and global trends in transforming
the military service system, continue to raise new issues related to Korean military
service policy. Modifications of the current military service system that would
allow for the increasing social demand for a change to all-voluntary service, a
review of a differentiated military service system designed to meet the need for the
adjustment of the term of military service for conscripts, the proposal of a reasonable
policy in response to the demands for mandatory military service for women, and
the creation of a plan to incorporate religiously motivated conscientious objectors
into the community service system will be an important part of the military service
policy agenda that national defense policymakers should keep in mind.
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