Women in the South Korean Military

Abstract

This article examines the changing role of women in the Korean armed forces and explores the issue of gender integration in the military. During the past half-century, the utilization of women in the armed forces has been limited in Korea due to constitutional and cultural restraints. Yet the expansion of utilizing females in the military is becoming a global trend. Since the Women's Army Corps was abolished as an independent corps in the early 1990s in Korea, women have been assigned to various corps of the army, the navy and the air force. By 2020 the Korean armed forces plan to recruit women to a level of 5 percent of the total officers and NCOs in the three services. Overall, the evaluation of women in the military appears to be positive, although gender differences are detected in the role of servicewomen. This article highlights the advantages of women's presence in the armed forces with respect to social representation, cultural integration and the acquisition of quality human resources.