[2024 National Audit] Only 27 Female Military Officers Applied for Mobilization Training in 3 Years

Analysis of National Defense Committee Member Kang Dae-sik's Audit Data
"Increase in Female Military Reservists... Need to Activate Mobilization Training"

The proportion of female reserve officers applying for mobilization training among reserve military officers was found to be extremely low. In the case of female reserve officers, only applicants are incorporated into the reserves, and even after becoming reserves, only applicants are assigned mobilization training.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to data received on the 11th by Kang Dae-sik, a member of the National Assembly Defense Committee from the People Power Party, from the Ministry of National Defense and the Military Manpower Administration, from 2020 to August this year, 119,753 male soldiers received mobilization training summons, while only 27 female soldiers did. However, mobilization training was not conducted in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19. During this period, among 3,696 discharged female soldiers, only 593 (19.1%) supported the reserves by choosing discharge rather than retirement, and among these 593, only 27 (4.5%) received mobilization training.

Mobilization training is a training conducted over 2 nights and 3 days during peacetime for reservists designated as personnel for mobilization, so that they can perform wartime duties in emergencies. They live together in barracks or field tents and receive the same training as active-duty soldiers. For officers, reservists in their 1st to 6th year are subject to mobilization training.

Unlike male soldiers, female soldiers are on a voluntary basis. Although the Military Personnel Act was amended in 2011 to allow female soldiers to be incorporated into the reserves, at that time, female soldier facilities were not prepared, so a policy was established through the 2021 Chungmu Execution Plan to restrict mobilization designation. Since 2019, as the number of female reservists increased, the policy was changed to designate mobilization, but mobilization training is only imposed on applicants.

Accordingly, Kang suggested that it is necessary to unify the Ministry of National Defense’s Chungmu Execution Plan and the Military Manpower Administration’s regulations on personnel mobilization summons and wartime labor summons, and to consider measures to revitalize mobilization training for female reservists by not only making female reservists mandatory but also mandating mobilization training for female soldiers, which has been selectively implemented so far.

Kang criticized, "Discrimination based on gender occurs not only in reserve incorporation but also in the imposition of mobilization training," adding, "According to the Ministry of National Defense’s Chungmu Execution Plan, all female reservists are designated for mobilization and training, but problems arise because the Military Manpower Administration does not comply with the policy."