According to the relevant ministries on the 15th, the number of Korean men aged 19 to 20 who took the Military Manpower Administration’s military service examination in 2021 was only 254,400. There was a sharp decline of 21% compared to 2019 (323,800 people), two years ago. As a result of the military service examination conducted in 2021, 211,300 men were diagnosed as active duty soldiers. The active duty judgment rate was 83%.
In 1944, when the Japanese military’s trend of ‘disrespect for human life’ forced soldiers to commit suicide assaults on the Pacific front, the Japanese Empire’s active duty judgment rate was 70%. This is an estimate presented by Ritsumeikan University in Japan through old Japanese county office official documents. In 1990, Korea’s active duty judgment rate was 64.2%, and in 1980 it was only 45.4%, but it has risen sharply since then.
This is the result of a continued decline in the proportion of test subjects excluded from active duty service, such as military exemptions, due to the depletion of military service resources. Today, even a third-generation reader whose entire body is covered in dragon and tiger tattoos, who stands 175cm tall, weighs 105kg, and is immobile has to go to the military. Even with flat feet, you must march wearing military boots. In the 1990s, the six-month defense service system allowed for those with two or more generations was abolished, and in 2021, full-body tattoos were excluded from supplementary service. Enlistment criteria related to abnormal vision, body mass index (BMI), and flat feet have also been relaxed.
2023 article
As of May 2024, active duty judgment is 87.2%