ROTC Application Rate Rises for the First Time in 9 Years

From 1.6 to 1 last year to 2.1 to 1

The application rate for Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) candidates has risen for the first time in nine years.

According to the Ministry of National Defense, a total of 7,989 applicants applied for this year's ROTC recruitment, which closed on the 1st, recording an application rate of 2.1 to 1. This is an increase from last year's application rate of 1.6 to 1, when 5,907 people applied. The ROTC application rate had been declining for eight consecutive years since 2015, when it was 4.8 to 1, but succeeded in reversing the trend this year.

The Ministry of National Defense evaluated that the increase was due to raising the short-term service incentive for ROTC from 9 million won to 12 million won starting this year, and increasing the monthly ROTC living support allowance from 80,000 won last year to 160,000 won this year. This year, the Army showed the highest application rate of 2.3 to 1, with 7,136 applicants for 3,129 positions. The Navy and Marine Corps had 260 applicants for 239 positions, recording 1.1 to 1, and the Air Force had 593 applicants for 348 positions, recording 1.7 to 1.

Among the applicants, female students accounted for 2,461, or 31% of the total, an increase of 7 percentage points compared to 24% last year.