The number of men reassigned to South Korea's wartime labor service — a status that amounts to an exemption from military duty — has surged since the Moon Jae-in administration, rising from just 11 in 2016 to more than 10,000 a year recently. Men placed in the wartime labor service are those judged unfit for active duty or supplementary service in the military conscription examination. They are not drafted in peacetime and would be assigned to military support work only in the event of war, making the status effectively an exemption.
Most reassignments to the wartime labor service involve men moving over from supplementary service. The reasons vary — illness (grade 5 and others), criminal convictions, financial hardship, exceeding the age limit and prolonged waiting — with prolonged waiting accounting for the largest share. More notable, however, is that more than 5,000 men win exemptions on a separate ground: emigration or long-term stays overseas.
According to data on wartime labor service rulings for men aged 38 and older, submitted by the Military Manpower Administration to the office of Rep. Yoo Yong-won of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, 5,901 men were placed in the wartime labor service on age grounds in 2025 alone. Of those, 5,829, or 89.6%, were exempted from military service because of emigration or long-term stays abroad — roughly nine out of every 10.
Men in this category live abroad for extended periods while securing permanent residency or citizenship. Many never take the conscription examination at all, and even those ruled fit for active duty or supplementary service simply do not return home until they reach 38, the age at which military obligations end. They are then placed in the wartime labor service and, barring a war, perform no military service — a legal exemption.
Critics say long-term stays overseas are available mostly to wealthy and well-connected families who can afford them, making the practice a legal way to avoid the draft. The National Assembly's National Defense Committee has passed a partial amendment to the Military Service Act that would raise the age at which military obligations end to 45 from 38. The bill is pending before the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
"In 2025 alone, 5,289 men living abroad long term were placed in the wartime labor service, and this is effectively hardening into a legal means for the wealthy and the well-connected to avoid military service," Yoo said. "A huge budget of 1.6 billion won has gone into cracking down on draft dodgers this year alone, including equipment for special judicial police and investigation costs, yet there has been no tracking or sanctioning of those staying overseas."
He added: "To achieve the fair military service the Military Manpower Administration talks about, I ask the agency to push actively and make sure this gets done — securing passage of the partial amendment to the Military Service Act raising the exemption age to 45 from 38 through the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and persuading the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to create military manpower attaché posts, which are essential to putting the law into effect."
