Even Severely Obese Young Adults Enlist as Active Duty Soldiers

'Notice of Legislative Amendment to the "Military Service Physical Examination and Testing Rules"
Strengthening Active Duty Evaluation Criteria for Depression and Other Mental Disorders'

The criteria for exclusion from active duty enlistment due to excessive or insufficient body weight will be reduced.

On the 17th, when the first military service physical examination of 2021 was conducted, candidates were undergoing physical examinations at the Seoul Regional Military Manpower Administration in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the 14th, the Ministry of National Defense announced that it had pre-announced the amendment to the "Military Service Physical Examination and Other Inspection Rules" the day before, which includes easing the active duty judgment criteria based on Body Mass Index (BMI, weight divided by the square of height). Generally, BMI is classified as ▲ 18.4 or below as underweight ▲ 18.5?24.9 as normal ▲ 25?29.9 as overweight ▲ 30?34.9 as obese ▲ 35?39.9 as severely obese ▲ 40 or above as morbidly obese.

The amendment lowers the lower limit of the active duty judgment criteria from the current 16 to 15 and raises the upper limit from the current 35 to 40. Accordingly, if the amendment passes the Cabinet meeting after the legislative notice period, those who were previously judged as grade 4 social service personnel with a BMI of 35?39.9 (severely obese) will all receive a grade 3 active duty judgment going forward.

Jeon Ha-gyu, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, said at a regular briefing, "We have confirmed that individuals classified as overweight (severely obese) or underweight according to the current BMI standards can serve in the military without any issues." Regarding whether the shortage of military personnel influenced this legislative notice, Spokesperson Jeon said, "You can understand it in that context," but added, "The conclusion was reached from the perspective that easing the BMI criteria somewhat does not cause problems in properly fulfilling military service obligations."

The Ministry of National Defense also decided to judge cases of cruciate ligament injuries as grade 5 (wartime labor service), which is effectively exempt, only if ligament reconstruction surgery has been performed two or more times. Previously, the inspection rules judged grade 5 if ligament reconstruction surgery was performed even once.

Additionally, the criteria for astigmatism among refractive disorders will be eased to a level similar to the criteria for myopia and hyperopia, and the flatfoot judgment criteria will be subdivided and eased. However, the active duty judgment criteria for mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders, which cause command and management burdens in field units, will be strengthened. Until now, mild cases were judged as active duty, but even if symptoms are mild, if there is social or occupational functional impairment, they will be judged as grade 4.