DAEJEON — Hong So-young, commissioner of the Military Manpower Administration, said on the 12th that the government will scale back benefits under South Korea's military service exemption system for athletes and artists and abolish it over the long term.
Hong made the remarks in response to a question from Rep. Kim Byung-joo of the Democratic Party of Korea during a parliamentary audit of the agency by the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, held at the agency's headquarters in the government complex in Daejeon, political sources said on the 13th. Hong said the agency's position was the same as that of the Ministry of National Defense.
Commissioner Hong expressed particular regret over remarks made by athletes competing at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games about the exemption system. "As commissioner of the Military Manpower Administration, I find it deeply regrettable and unfortunate," Hong said.
"I take seriously the sense of loss that young men now serving in the military must have felt, as well as the public's calls for reform," Hong added.
Members of the defense committee also spoke in unison about the need to overhaul the exemption system.
Rep. Kim Byung-kee, an independent, pointed to cases in which all participants in some arts competitions were Korean nationals, and said some international events held in South Korea should be excluded from the list of qualifying competitions.
Rep. Lim Jong-deuk of the People Power Party called for abolishing the system outright. "With the pool of available conscripts shrinking rapidly, the system itself needs a fundamental review," he said.
Many lawmakers argued that the bar for qualifying international competitions should be raised. More than 50 years have passed since the system was introduced in 1973, and as South Korea's international standing has risen, so has the public's threshold for what counts as enhancing national prestige.
The controversy over scrapping the exemptions flared after reports of inappropriate comments by Asian Games competitors about the system following their gold medals.
Lawmakers also said the country should consider having women take part in military service to address the sharp decline in the conscript pool.
Rep. Yoo Young-ha of the People Power Party asked the agency to study options for military service by women. "This requires a social consensus and considerable preparation, including restructuring military units to accommodate women," he said.
Rep. Cheon Ha-ram of the Reform Party described conscription for women as conscription for both sexes. "Rather than wringing out a dry towel by squeezing male conscripts, we should consider this alternative from the standpoint of operating manpower efficiently," he said.
Hong said the defense ministry and his agency were building support by gradually raising the share of female officers rather than introducing conscription for women abruptly.
