Military to Normalize Soldiers' Leave... Booster Shots Planned Early Next Year

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] As the government implements the first phase of gradual daily recovery (With Corona), the military will gradually ease quarantine guidelines.

On the 29th, Defense Minister Seo Wook held the 14th major commanders meeting on COVID-19 across the military and made this decision. About 70 commanders, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Chiefs of Staff of each military branch, the Marine Corps Commander, and the Armed Forces Medical Commanding General, attended the meeting via video conference.

The Ministry of National Defense decided to prioritize allowing soldiers to go out on weekdays first, then gradually expand based on risk assessment. Overnight leave will be controlled for the time being. Leave will be conducted normally according to the law.

Earlier, since last month, the military partially eased unit management guidelines considering the accumulated fatigue of soldiers due to quarantine guidelines stricter than civilian ones and the high vaccination rate. On the 6th of last month, the military increased the leave quota from 15% to 20% of unit members. The proportion of soldiers on leave will be flexibly adjusted within the scope of combat readiness and quarantine management in the future.

Some restricted unit training and education will also be conducted normally under the condition of implementing quarantine measures. However, inviting external instructors, field trips, and on-site training will be minimized.

Visits to soldiers will be allowed regardless of the soldiers' vaccination status. However, visitors will be limited to those who have completed vaccination or have a negative PCR test result within 48 hours.

Additional vaccinations (booster shots) for soldiers will also be promoted. As the first step, the military will conduct additional vaccinations for about 3,000 medical personnel at military hospitals next month. The military plans to administer booster shots to 500,000 soldiers in January and February next year.

Soldiers will continue to wear masks. Minister Seo emphasized, "Gradual daily recovery means moving toward daily recovery while stably managing the quarantine situation," and stressed compliance with basic quarantine guidelines such as wearing masks and hand washing.

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