Ministry of Defense

In connection with the military service exception system in the arts and sports fields that has recently become controversial, the Ministry of Defense stated that "it ultimately plans to reflect the reduction and abolition of supplementary service including arts and sports personnel into

the basic national defense reform plan and proceed with it."

According to Yonhapnews on the 6th, Jung Bit-na, spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense, said at a regular briefing that day

"We will comprehensively consider equity and fairness among those obligated to serve in the military, the situation of declining military resources, and national consensus"

and made these remarks. Spokesperson Jung said regarding the remarks and conduct related to military service exceptions of some soccer national team players who won gold medals at the 2026 Aichi·Nagoya Asian Games, "The Ministry of Defense finds it very regrettable regarding some remarks from the sports community"

and said.

He said "Military service obligation is a sacred duty that all members of our society should respect and regard as noble"

and emphasized "I earnestly hope that a social culture in which the value of military service obligation can be cherished even more will be established."

Earlier, Yang Min-hyuk, a player who participated as a member of the soccer national team at this Asian Games and won a gold medal,

in an interview right after the final match

"Medals or trophies are not important, and it seems I played the game looking only at military exemption"he said.

Team captain Lee Ki-hyuk also said "If I hadn't won the gold medal, I would have gone back to Korea with 9 days left before entering the military"and

mentioned that this gold medal meant he would not have to go to the military, drawing criticism.

Player Park Seung-soo also fueled the controversy by posting a photo wearing a 'discharge hat' in the locker room after the match on SNS.

Regarding these reckless remarks and conduct by some players regarding military service benefits,

arguments from the political sphere and others are following that the military service exception system in the arts and sports fields should be reformed.

The government is also adjusting the scale of supplementary service personnel in a situation where active service resources are rapidly decreasing,

and has been reviewing ways to include institutional improvement measures in the new national defense reform basic plan currently being established.

Hong So-young, Commissioner of the Military Manpower Administration, said in an interview with Yonhapnews last August,

"The national defense reform basic plan includes how to overall implement the phased reduction and abolition of the supplementary service system and is in the final review stage,"

she said.

Particularly regarding the arts and sports personnel system among these, "the arts personnel system will focus on authoritative competitions (for enrollment recognition) and reduce the number of competitions,

He also mentioned that "we agreed with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the basic direction that admission criteria need to be organized in stages.

https://n.news.naver.com/article/082/0001401266