South Korea is one of the few countries left in the world which requires at least its male citizens to serve in the military for a certain number of years. Every man is expected to serve for 22 months in the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines as a soldier or in another non-combat position. After 5 weeks of basic training these soldiers are sent to their units that are picked at random, and this was no exception for the men who were selected to serve at the General Outpost (G.O.P.) at the DMZ, the border that divides North and South Korea.
Now, the Korean Ministry of Defense, and the Administration for Military Personnel announced on their homepage that they will now begin recruiting what they dubbed as “outstanding infantry”. Basically, the military will no longer be selecting soldiers to be deployed at the border at random, but they will be receiving volunteers to serve there.
This is the first time the military is going through such a process, and the registration started on the 3rd of November and will be lasting until the 12th.
The DMZ which cuts across the middle of the Korean peninsula was probably the most unpopular area for any Korean soldier to serve, mostly because of the tensions that occur between the two Koreas but also because of the cold weather. In the winter, the DMZ could become even colder than the Russian city of Vladivostok, the “frozen port”. Because it is so unpopular among young soldiers and the recent incident where one soldier ended up shooting a number of his fellow troopers, the Ministry of Defense had decided that these troops should receive right compensation for their service to their country.
A spokesperson for the Republic of Korea Army told World Ilbo that they are hoping to deploy up to 10,000 of these recruited soldiers. The benefits for these DMZ outpost guards include being able to decide on the date of their recruitment and their vacations. Because most South Korean students are college students, a flexible schedule is believed to help them both when they enlist and also when they return to school after they get discharged.
The recruited soldiers will be able to leave their unit for 3 days every month for vacation. Before this change, soldiers serving at the border could only leave only for a single day every month during their 6 month deployment. In addition, the Administration for Military Personnel said that they will be receiving similar wages to staff sergeants.
Because of these new benefits, competition to serve in these DMZ units has been escalating already. On average, only 1 out of 4 or 5 applicants are accepted to be trained to serve at the border.
2014 was a somewhat disappointing year for the South Korea military, particularly because of the lives that have been lost from the violence taking place within the armed forces and that soldiers have not been receiving proper treatment from the government despite the time they dedicated to their country.
