Unfair 'Soldier Reward Leave Cancellation' Disappears... Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Recommends Improvement Plan

"Improvement of Unreasonable Special Leave Restriction Practices"
Establishing Grounds for Restrictions... Organizing Reasons for Cancellation, etc.

The practice of restricting special leave for soldiers will be reasonably improved going forward.

On the 24th, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced that it had prepared a plan to improve the "unreasonable restrictions on special leave for soldiers" and recommended it to the Ministry of National Defense. The improvement plan consists of clearly establishing the grounds for restricting special leave for soldiers in each military branch and rationally defining the reasons and limits for canceling special leave.

Soldiers' leave is broadly divided into regular leave and special leave, with special leave including reward, consolation, and compensation leave. In the case of regular leave, the Military Personnel Act clearly stipulates the grounds for leave restrictions as a type of disciplinary action, but for special leave, some branches do not have regulations on cancellation or withdrawal restrictions. As a result, complaints from soldiers about special leave being arbitrarily canceled, withdrawn, or shortened by commanders have been continuously raised.

According to the Commission's investigation, the Air Force and Marine Corps have no separate regulations regarding the cancellation of special leave. The Army and Navy have stipulated reasons for canceling or withdrawing special leave, but there are also cases where special leave is restricted for other reasons. It was also confirmed that even if it is discovered that special leave was obtained through fraudulent means, only part of the already granted special leave can be canceled.

Status of Special Leave Cancellation and Withdrawal Regulations by Military Branches
[Image provided by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission]

Accordingly, the Commission recommended that the Army and Navy supplement and revise their current regulations so that each military branch can operate a unified special leave system. It also recommended that the Air Force and Marine Corps establish internal regulations regarding the cancellation or withdrawal of soldiers' special leave, including the supplemented regulations.

Kim Tae-gyu, Vice Chairman of the Commission, said, "We will continue to work with the Ministry of National Defense to ensure that the rights of soldiers who faithfully fulfill their military duties are more thoroughly protected and to promote a reasonable military culture."

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