S. Korea may allow women to volunteer as rank-and-file soldiers

SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is considering allowing women to volunteer as rank-and-file soldiers in an effort to compensate for an expected shortfall in military manpower, an official said Thursday.

Women can already serve as officers, but they have been barred from being
enlisted with men who serve in all capacities as part of mandatory armed
services.
"The defense ministry is considering introducing a system in which women can
volunteer to serve in the rank and file," a government official said on condition
of anonymity, adding feasibility studies will be completed by 2011.
South Korea plans to slash the number of its armed forces from 665,000 to a
little over 500,000 by the year 2020 while modernizing its weapons systems.
The country also suffers from one of the world's lowest birth rates. According to
recent figures from the World Health Organization, South Korea had an average of
1.2 babies per woman of reproductive age.
But the government official said the potential decision to allow women to serve
among men in the rank and file hinges on the military's ability to accommodate
them.
"There will be many obstacles" as the South Korean military has been optimized
for service by men over a period of decades, the official said.
"No specific conclusion has been drawn as to how the women will serve as
rank-and-filers," the official said. "Women could serve more technical roles than
combat ones."
samkim@yna.co.kr
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