ROK Army Moving Closer to Volunteer Army?

Is the ROK Army moving closer to an all volunteer army? After reading this in the Joong Ang Ilbo I think so.

Discipline-related fatalities in the military, such as suicide, are occurring one after another. Last year, 66 soldiers took their own lives while serving in the military; an average of 5.5 deaths per month. This year, some nine servicemen had committed suicide as of mid-February. The percentage of suicides among total casualties in the military has risen. Put yourself in the shoes of a soldier’s parent. If your son returns as a corpse because he was unable to withstand the abuse in the armed forces, who could trust the armed forces to take care of their son? Analysis of the deaths points to complex causes.

The most significant problem is the abuse that still exists within the ranks. In a recent case in which an enlisted soldier hanged himself, the cause was revealed to be physical abuse from a higher-ranking soldier. Many preventive measures were adapted after the incident in which trainees were forced to eat human excrement, but they have failed to eliminate inhumane acts in the barracks.

Another factor is the different values that soldiers possess these days. According to some, many soldiers cannot even endure verbal abuse, something that wasn’t a problem just a short time ago. It has gotten to the point that many enlisted soldiers in a forward-based unit were sent to boot camp for using vulgar language to lower-ranking servicemen.

Fierce training and discipline within the ranks are essential to the military. The problem is that these characteristics might collide with the values of today’s recruits, who were pampered and allowed to behave according to their wills while growing up. A good example of this is the soldier who fled his unit during a cold-weather training exercise and was found crouching in a civilian house, claiming the weather was too cold to withstand.
Because of the severity of the problems, temporary solutions are no longer appropriate. A drastic upheaval of the military culture is needed. An atmosphere in which men are properly trained while their basic rights are respected needs to be widely adapted.

The military must provide motivation for soldiers to voluntarily take part in its lifestyle. We must make them realize that the time spent in the armed forces is not wasted. Barracks must be brought up to date so that they’re similar to the environments soldiers were used to in their civilian lives. Don’t think of such investments as a waste of money.

This sounds like Korea needs an all volunteer army to me. Korea is in a predicament because it needs to maintain an extremely large army because of the threat from the Norks and uses the draft to fill it. However, with the changing attitude of the new recruits I have noticed myself over the years here that the newer generation is more bitter about doing their military service. Teaching draftees to appreciate military service will do nothing to correct the problem.

At some point Korea will have to go to an all volunteer force. To do this the soldiers will need to get payed more than the $40 bucks a month they are making now. Discipline will be easier to keep in an all volunteer force because these soldiers know what they are getting into and not bitter like draftees. The article recommends upgrading barracks to meet the standards recruits are used to at home. This is unlikely because US Army barracks do not meet this standard. A new private will come to Korea and if the private is lucky he/she will be in a two man room. Many are packed in 3 or even 4 to a room. I don’t see how the ROK Army could do any better. What Korea needs to figure out is if an all voluteer army is feasible. If a large enough force cannot be maintained with an all volunteer army, the country will need to figure out some solution to the North Korean problem in the short term because they may have a hard time keeping a large enough military to counter North Korean aggression in the long term if the current trend stays the same.