[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] Increasing Number of Female Soldiers... Active in Various Fields

[Asia Economy Reporter Yang Nak-gyu] Last year, female military personnel accounted for 6.8% of the total forces. Currently, there are 12,602 female soldiers.

On the 29th, the Ministry of National Defense held the '9th Meeting on Expanding the Proportion of Female Soldiers and Ensuring Working Conditions' at its office in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and announced that the recruitment of female soldiers exceeded last year's target (6.7%). The Ministry plans to increase the proportion of female soldiers to 7.4% in 2020, 8.1% in 2021, and 8.8% in 2022. The Ministry has actively assigned female soldiers to policy departments (Ministry of National Defense, each military headquarters, Combined Forces Command, Joint Chiefs of Staff). Last year, the proportion of female officers at the field grade level in policy departments was 5.9%.

The Ministry explained that qualified female soldiers were assigned to combat unit commanders and guard units. Last year, female soldiers were assigned for the first time as battalion commanders in standing divisions, as well as commanders of the Army Aviation Operations Command and flight squadron commanders in the Air Force. Additionally, female facilities were expanded at 210 Army GOP (General Outposts) locations where assignments had been limited due to the lack of essential facilities for female soldiers.

The origin of female soldiers dates back to the female commissioned officers trained as drill instructors for the Student Defense Corps of middle school and above, organized during the social turmoil after the establishment of the government. In 1949, 32 female commissioned officers were trained as leaders of the Women's Youth Defense Corps. The training commander at the time, Kim Hyun-sook, the first branch chief, was assigned to the office of former Minister of National Defense Shin Sung-mo after the Student Defense Corps was disbanded, and carried out the task of persuading female communist guerrillas captured during anti-communist operations in areas such as Jirisan.

As the number of female soldiers increased, movements to accommodate female soldiers within the military also appeared.

Since 2014, the Special Forces Command has removed the word 'man' from its military songs. This was the first change in 40 years. Changing the lyrics from 'man' to 'warriors' in the songs sung only by the Special Forces was a measure to accommodate the increasing number of female soldiers. At that time, former Special Forces Commander Jeon Im-beom ordered the revision of the military songs, and in the lyrics sung exclusively by the Special Forces, such as the Black Berets, 'man' was replaced with 'warriors.'

The Navy produced its first female ship captain in 2017 since its establishment. The female officer who commanded the 450-ton minesweeper 'Goryeong' was Major Ahn Hee-hyun. It was also 16 years since female officers began being assigned to naval vessels in 2001.

In the future, female soldiers will also be able to board Navy submarines. When female soldiers board submarines, the Republic of Korea Navy will become the 10th country in the world to open submarines to female personnel. The 3,000-ton submarine is scheduled to be commissioned in 2020. This submarine is designed with bedrooms and restrooms to accommodate female soldiers, and plans are in place to select and train female personnel who will board submarines.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.