Following Substandard Meals, 'Substandard Uniforms'... Ongoing Military Controversies

Defense Acquisition Program Administration building located in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyoung Kwon, Intern] It has been revealed that hundreds of thousands of berets and sportswear supplied to soldiers by the military are defective, sparking controversy.

Today (19th), the office of Yoon Joo-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, announced that the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) conducted an investigation on 18 companies that supplied six types of clothing items to the military. The investigation found that eight companies supplying three items, including berets and sportswear, delivered products that failed to meet the standard specifications.

The eight companies identified reportedly supplied a total of approximately 306,000 berets, 195,000 spring/autumn sportswear, and 308,000 summer sportswear to the military over the past five years. Among them, five companies supplied summer sportswear to the Army last year, two supplied spring/autumn sportswear, and one supplied berets.

In particular, the summer sportswear pants supplied by one company to the Army were evaluated at 19 seconds in the sweat absorption speed test, far exceeding the quality standard of 2 seconds or less. Additionally, several companies supplied clothing and berets that failed to meet standards for discoloration and deformation due to sweat, waterproofing, or were much easier to tear.

The office of Representative Yoon pointed out flaws in the quality assurance method for clothing items as the cause of this situation. Military supplies have different quality assurance standards depending on the type, and clothing items are evaluated based on the 'simple quality assurance type (Type i)' standard, which assesses the finished product. When a supplier submits a test report from an accredited testing agency, DAPA only verifies its authenticity. According to Representative Yoon's office, some companies exploited this process by submitting normal products for testing to obtain approval, then supplying substandard products during actual delivery.

In response, DAPA requested the prosecution to investigate one company whose contract has ended for supplying defective products and demanded corrective actions from the remaining seven companies. Furthermore, DAPA announced plans to implement a 'one strike out' policy to immediately expel defective suppliers and to conduct random inspections on supplied military goods to prevent recurrence of such cases.

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