Page 311 - 2018 Defense White Paper

education and cultural activities. The provision prohibits troop information and education (TI&E) instructors
from mentioning specific parties, politicians, or political activities. The MND also developed security
education contents for reserve force members and reinforced on-site monitoring of education programs
in terms of the screening of external instructors and feedback for education programs. The MND also
diversified the educational contents by developing lecture programs that incorporate the servicemembers’
preferences and the latest trends such as “Vitamin for Stronger Military” and “TV Lecture: Knowledge-in.”

| Eradicate Service Evasion | So far, news of service evasion by high-ranking officials and their children,
celebrities, and athletes left ordinary citizens who fulfilled their military obligations feeling a sense of great
loss. Even though there has been no service evasion scandal that involves the members of the military since
2000, the ROK Armed Forces faced two other major issues—prolonged waiting periods for social service
personnel and unfair assignment of social service personnel.
To reduce the waiting periods for social service personnel, the Committee for the Eradication of Deep-
Rooted Evils in the Military recommended inducing local governments to increase the use of social service
personnel by providing subsidies from the national treasury to cover lunch expenses for social service
personnel and reducing the minimum waiting period required for exemption from service due to prolonged
waiting from four to three years. Also, to ensure fair assignment of social service personnel, the committee
recommended prohibiting children of high-ranking officials from choosing government bodies as their
places of service and encouraging social service personnel to choose less popular institutions such as

social welfare facilities or metros.
The Military Manpower Administration (MMA) introduced an amendment to the regulations on the drafting
of social service personnel that reduces the minimum waiting period required for conversion to wartime labor
service due to prolonged waiting from four to three years as of January 1, 2018. Also, to reduce the labor
expenses borne by local governments using social service personnel, the MND is pursuing a plan to pay for
lunch expenses from the national treasury in the short term and provide subsidies from the national treasury
to cover the overall labor expenses for social service personnel in the long term. The MND also plans
to exclude institutions preferred by social service personnel from the list of institutions that social service
personnel can choose as their places of service.

| Eradicate Personal Use of Servicemembers | In a recent gapjil (a Korean phrase meaning abuse
of one’s superior position) scandal that enraged the public, a four-star general was found to frequently
use, give unjustifiable orders, and verbally abuse the servicemembers assigned to his official residence for
personal chores. Even though the MND stopped assigning junior servicemembers to official residences, it is
impossible to subject a four-star general to disciplinary action under the current system, and junior members

Special Appendix 1 Results of the Activities of the Committee for the Eradication of Deep-Rooted Evils in the Military 309