Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Promotes Military Barracks Reading Activation Project

On the 8th, when the number of new COVID-19 cases surged to around 700, soldiers were waiting to be tested at the COVID-19 screening station set up at Seoul Station Plaza. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 24th that, together with the Ministry of National Defense, the Korea Publication Culture Industry Promotion Agency, and the Sharing Books Movement Headquarters, it will deliver ‘book packages’ to 18,000 new recruits and conduct reading guidance activities at 400 military units.

Since 2012, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of National Defense have been collaborating on the ‘Military Reading Activation Support Project.’ As part of this, since 2017, they have been conducting the ‘New Recruit Reading Support Activity,’ which delivers a ‘book package’ consisting of three books?a reading guidebook, a reading notebook, and one good book?at the time of new recruit enlistment ceremonies.

This year, starting with about 270 new recruits entering the 28th Division in the front line of Gangwon Province on this day, the book packages will be delivered to 18,000 new recruits of the Army, Navy, and Air Force over three months.

In particular, to prevent the recent spread of COVID-19, new recruits are quarantined without training for two weeks after enlistment and spend much of that time reading. Accordingly, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to meet the increased reading demand of new recruits during the quarantine period by delivering the ‘book packages.’

Additionally, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of National Defense support ‘Military Reading Guidance Activities’ to stimulate soldiers’ interest in reading and help form reading habits. After soldiers read the books distributed in advance, professional reading instructors systematically guide their reading. This year, the guidance will be conducted online and non-face-to-face in 400 units, an increase of 50 units compared to last year, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within the units. The ‘Military Reading Guidance Activities’ satisfy the reading desires of soldiers in environments with limited space and time for reading, spread a culture of reading within the military, foster soldiers’ reading habits, and contribute to creating a healthy military culture of communication.

A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official said, “Over the past 10 years, many soldiers have been able to form reading habits in the military through the ‘Military Reading Activation Support Project.’ We hope that this year, too, the project will help even more soldiers develop reading habits and spread a culture of communication.”

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