"Military Troop Shortage, Introducing Mandatory Police?"... Criticism Arises Even Within the Ruling Party

Yoo Seung-min "If Police Are Needed, Police Should Be Reinforced"
Lee Eon-ju "Are Heinous Crimes Also the Burden of Young People?"

As the government announced that it is considering the revival of the Mandatory Police Service (Uigyeong) to respond to the recent surge in 'random crimes,' voices of doubt about the effectiveness of the measure are emerging even within the ruling party. The concern is that reviving Uigyeong, which was abolished due to a shortage of manpower resources, will further exacerbate the manpower shortage issue.

Former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min criticized the government on his social media on the 23rd, saying, "If the police are needed, they should officially recruit more police officers to prevent crime. How can reintroducing the Mandatory Police Service make sense?"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo stated in a government press release at the Seoul Government Complex titled 'Prime Minister's Statement on Preventing Recurrence of Abnormal Motive Crimes,' "We will prioritize police duties as the top priority in public safety work and reorganize the police organization to strengthen public safety capabilities," adding, "We will actively consider reintroducing the Mandatory Police Service to significantly enhance crime prevention capabilities."

The Mandatory Police Service involved assisting police security duties instead of military service during the conscription period. The scale is expected to be around 8,000 personnel. Police Commissioner Yoon Hee-geun, who attended the meeting, said, "We plan to sequentially recruit and operate about 7,500 to 8,000 personnel, including 3,500 experienced members of the rapid response team and 4,000 personnel to be deployed at key metropolitan bases, in consultation with the Ministry of National Defense and others," adding, "It will take about 7 to 8 months."

However, since it involves pulling already scarce manpower, it is difficult to avoid criticism that it is merely "taking a stone from the top to prop up the bottom." Former lawmaker Yoo also pointed out, "Due to the demographic cliff, military manpower has decreased, breaking the 500,000-strong armed forces, and divisions guarding the front lines are being disbanded," adding, "I hope the Prime Minister thinks carefully and faces reality before making such reckless statements and proposing measures."

Former lawmaker Lee Eon-ju also raised her voice on social media, saying, "They are quick to avoid responsibility even when soldiers drown in the military, and now are they going to make our citizens and young people bear the burden of violent crimes?" She added, "Is it appropriate for those who never take responsibility, constantly divide the people, provoke political strife, and waste taxpayers' money while putting national interests and citizens last to be making such statements?"

Former People Power Party spokesperson Moon Sung-ho also criticized, saying, "As expected, they want to pull out those who are supposed to go to the military," adding, "They are even recruiting those who are so sick that daily life is difficult, and since they cannot get enough personnel, they are disbanding military units, but now they want to take them again for the Mandatory Police Service?"

Criticism is also coming from the opposition. Park Tae-hoon, deputy spokesperson of the Progressive Party, said in a briefing, "The Mandatory Police Service system was completely abolished just four months ago due to a shortage of active-duty soldiers caused by the demographic cliff. Now, they say they want to use the Mandatory Police Service to strengthen public safety capabilities, which is simply absurd."

The Mandatory Police Service was established in 1982 but began to be phased out in earnest from 2017 during the Moon Jae-in administration. The main reason was the reduction in military manpower due to the demographic cliff, with the plan to solve security issues by supplementing police personnel instead of Uigyeong. The number of Uigyeong personnel steadily decreased from 25,911 in 2017 to 19,495 in 2018, 14,192 in 2019, 8,976 in 2020, 4,152 in 2021, and 1,045 last year, with the last batch discharged in May this year, marking the abolition of the system.

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