Text Fwd: Military Considers Longer Basic Training

Korea Times
12-27-2009 19:57
Military Considers Longer Basic Training
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

The military is considering doubling the period of basic military training for conscripts in a bid to fill a possible gap in combat readiness from the planned reduction in service period, sources said Sunday.

The idea was first discussed during a meeting of top military brass on Dec. 9, and the Ministry of National Defense is studying follow-up measures, they said.

``We're considering an option to have recruits undergo three to five weeks of additional training following the mandatory five-week basic training,'' a ministry official said, asking not to be named.

Follow-up training will focus on allowing recruits to learn specified skills for their jobs, he said.

Currently, recruits are required to undergo five weeks of basic military training before their two-year-long compulsory service in the military. South Korea maintains the conscription system in which all able-bodied men over 19 must serve in the military for 24 to 27 months.

The military has been studying ways to resolve problems concerning a potential manpower shortage that could arise in coming years as a result of reducing the military service period in stages, as well as the troop reduction plan under the Defense Reform 2020.

The previous Roh Moo-hyun administration decided to shorten the service period by six months by 2014. Critics have said the plan was politically motivated to win support from young voters ahead of the 2012 presidential election without solving any potential problems from the lack of manpower.

Last month, the defense ministry hinted that it might consider reducing the planned cut in the service period from six months to between two and three months, responding to questions by ruling party lawmakers.

Rep. Yoo Seung-min of the governing Grand National Party said the results of a 2003 study made by the state-funded Korea Institute for Defense Analyses showed that the service period should be at least 22 months to secure ``well-trained'' service members.

`Reducing the service period by as much as six months, only on the basis of a government decision without a national consensus, is too excessive,'' Yoo said. ``We should come up with measures to prevent a possible security vacuum as a result of an excessive reduction in the service period.''

An interim study by the ministry showed that under the original service-period reduction plan, there would be a shortage of some 2,000 service members by 2021, and the number would increase up to 90,000 by 2045, given the current low birthrate and the decrease in the country's male population.

Delays in procuring planned weapons systems due to an insufficient increase in defense budgets have also affected the reduction plan. The Roh administration believed the reduction in the service period would be feasible assuming that the defense budget could increase by 7.9 percent every year until 2020.

Next year's defense budget proposal, however, marks only a 7.3-percent increase.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr