[News Terms] One More Time in the Military? No Age Limit in Security: 'Senior Army'

Medical History of Seniors in Their 50s to 70s Draws Attention
Consideration of '5060 Military Guard Law'
Fresh Ideas VS Military Service Inequality Conflict

Senior Army is drawing attention. It is the name of a private military training organization launched in June last year. It started with 500 members and now reportedly has over 2,000 subscribers. The main age group is known to be composed of people in their 50s to 70s. However, there are no gender or age restrictions for joining. The oldest member is as old as 98, and the youngest member is 38. About 5% of the members are women.

The shortage of military personnel is a common problem in many countries around the world. Even the war-engaged United States is concerned about a lack of troops. Due to a decrease in the recruitment-eligible population, the U.S. Congress has pushed for including women in the draft, sparking controversy. The New York Times (NYT) reported on June 19 that the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee approved the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on June 14 (local time), stating, "Congress is weighing draft reform proposals that would expand mandatory conscription to include women and automatically register draft-eligible individuals."

Senior Army members experiencing urban combat training [Photo by Yonhap News]

The U.S. operates an all-volunteer force, but males aged 18 to 25 are required to register for the draft. This is a precaution in case a war breaks out and troop reinforcement is needed. The reason Congress is considering drafting women is that the number of volunteers for the military has decreased in recent years, making recruitment difficult.

South Korea, a country with an ultra-low birthrate, faces particularly severe manpower resource issues. The era of a 600,000-strong Korean military is a thing of the past. The 600,000 mark was broken in 2018. Since then, the numbers have steadily declined: 562,600 in 2019, 544,600 in 2020, 534,800 in 2021, and 500,700 in 2022. Eventually, even the 500,000 mark was breached. As of last year, the standing military force was 477,500. This represents a 15.1% decrease over the past five years. It is even less than 40% of North Korea’s 1.2 million troops.

The Ministry of National Defense announced in December 2022, in its '2023?2027 Defense Mid-term Plan,' a policy to maintain the standing military force at 500,000 by 2027. However, it seems difficult to actually restore the force to 500,000. Researcher Jo Gwan-ho analyzed, "If the current military service system is maintained, the year-end troop strength is expected to remain around 470,000 on average over the next 10 years."

Female honor guard waiting for the event to start at the welcome honor guard ceremony
[Photo by Yonhap News]

As it became harder to replenish troops due to demographic changes, various solutions such as extending service periods, switching to an all-volunteer force, and introducing female conscription have been proposed. Since these are sensitive topics, discussions have not progressed easily.

There have also been claims that people in their 50s and 60s should be assigned to base security and combat support roles such as military administration, cooking, and cleaning. In September, Seong Il-jong, a member of the National Assembly Defense Committee from the People Power Party, announced that he is reviewing the '5060 Military Security Personnel Bill.' Seong said, "Those in their 50s and 60s, or even healthy and experienced people in their 40s who have served in the military, can back up our military as contract civilian employees or through outsourcing. This would create jobs and have a positive effect."

Opinions on Senior Army are divided. Positive responses evaluate it as a novel idea to utilize enthusiastic and patriotic elderly people as defense resources. On the other hand, some voices raise concerns about the unfairness of military service. They criticize that the government is once again relying only on men. These critics lament that men cannot escape military service even as they grow older.