Home > National > Social Affairs

[WHY] Why do so many Korean men enlist during college?

Published: 29 Mar. 2025, 07:00 Updated: 31 Mar. 2025, 13:16

PAIK JI-HWAN
[email protected]

Recruits salute during an enlistment ceremony at the Korea Army Training Center in Nonsan, South Chungcheong, on Jan. 6. [NEWS1]

Enter college, finish mandatory military service while still in school, graduate: This is a typical routine for most Korean men, who must complete 18 to 21 months of military service before the age of 30 as required by law.

Men do have a choice of undergoing the mandatory service after college, as the military service laws allow those enrolled in four-year universities to enlist at age 24, though this can be delayed under certain circumstances.

This age is 24 under the traditional Korean age system — no longer broadly used for official purposes with the notable exception of the Military Manpower Administration — that considers people to be one year old at birth and adds one year on Jan. 1 regardless of an individual's actual birthday. To avoid confusion, this article will only use the traditional Korean age system.

Under this age system, most Korean men are 20 when entering college and 24 at around the time they graduate, if they did not complete their military service while in school.

Completing the military service after college, however, has not been considered an attractive option for the majority of Korean men for some time.

Data provided by the Military Manpower Administration suggest that around a combined 70 percent of Korean men enlisted at either age 20 or 21 from 2014 to 2024.

The almost two-year absence in the middle of their college years forces young men to split up their studies and pick up where they left off, which is not ideal for educational continuity.

The trend of serving in the military before graduation, however, has persisted as 74 percent of men aged 20 and 21 joined the armed forces in 2024.

But why is this still the case today despite potential interruptions to their studies?


Less knowledge loss

Completing the military service after college forces men to seek employment nearly two years after they have finished their studies.

Soldiers from the 72nd Infantry Division study in Yangju, Gyeonggi, on Oct. 15, 2019. [YONHAP]

This can put men at a disadvantage when finding a job, as they can forget much of what they learned in school by the time they finish their service.

“If I had joined the military after finishing college, I would have returned to society after forgetting what I studied,” Lee Jae-hee, who majored in civil engineering and enlisted at 22 after his first college year, said during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily. “There is that loss, and trends of what I need to study further to get a job I want could change by the time I finish the military service.”

Enlisting before the second year of college, when most students start studying more major-focused subjects, can also reduce the amount of studies they could forget and burden of having to readjust to studying.

“You will have forgotten so much by the time you finish the military service, but if you had only finished your first year, it would make it relatively easy for you to catch up on your studies,” Lee said. “It took me nearly six to eight months to regain to my studying habits.

“There were times in my second year of college when I couldn’t remember basic things, which made me think ‘I can’t even remember this?’”

No peers will be left if postponed until after graduation

As over 70 percent of men undergo military service between 20 and 21, those who do not complete their service until after graduation will most likely not have many peers their age left in school when receiving their diplomas.

“Maintaining your friendship group becomes hard if you are left alone,” Lee said. “And if you complete the military service late, there won’t be anyone around you by the time you finish your service.

“There can also be a situation where you cannot ask anyone close to you for help if you are left alone.”

Those who enlist after college will also likely have to deal with younger senior military members, which is not an ideal situation for those who are conscious of Korea's age-stratified culture which determines social interactions and hierarchy.

Soliders from the 11th Maneuver Division rest at a barrack in Hongcheon, Gangwon, on Aug. 3, 2018. [NEWS1]

In Korea, age is critical in determining how you speak and behave toward the people around you. Speaking to somebody even a year older requires an entirely different honorific system and the assumption that what they say should be treated with respect. To some extent, the opposite is true for somebody younger.

This traditional aspect of Korean society remains especially prevalent among men.

But in the military, age is just a number and rank is all that matters. Lower ranked members in the military must speak in a polite form to higher-ranked people regardless of their age.

If you enter the military late, the chance that you will be faced with the embarrassment of being required to treat somebody younger than you with the respect afforded to somebody senior is a very real concern for Korean men.

“Those around me were worried about having to face younger members in the military,” Lee said.

No more reserve forces training in 30s

Another advantage of finishing the military service early lies with the reserve forces training period.

Reserve forces members train at the 51st Infantry Division in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, on March 6. [YONHAP]

The earlier men finish the military service, the earlier they will be free of reserve forces training duties — required for eight years after completion of service.

The one to three-day reserve forces training sessions, mandated regardless of jobs, interfere with men’s daily lives. This could prove fatal for businesses with owners that have to undergo training at the cost of temporarily closing their stores.

But finishing the military service at 22, for example, would release men from reserve forces duties before their 30s when they generally develop more responsibilities.

Teachers finish studies first

The majority of Korean men prefer to enlist before college graduation as suggested by data from the Military Manpower Administration, but cases of joining the military after college do exist in particular groups such as teachers.

While the Military Manpower Administration told the Korea JoongAng Daily that it does not collect data of what percentage of to-be-teachers join the military after finishing their four-year studies, multiple male teachers reached by this newspaper said that most education students around them have chosen to finish college first.

Students attend a class at the 2024 Korea Educational Innovation Expo at the Korea International Exhibition Center in Goyang, Gyeonggi, on Dec. 13, 2024. [YONHAP]

Seoul Sungwon Elementary School Teacher Park Tae-joon, who served in the Korean Air Force as an enlistee from 2014 to 2016, told the Korea JoongAng Daily that that option is prevalent among would-be teachers as returning to college after the military service could increase their study load for the teacher qualification test.

“For example, if you studied the 2009 education curriculum in your first and second years of college, but the 2015 education curriculum had been adopted after you returned to school from the military service, you would have to study both curriculums [for the test],” Park said.

Teachers can choose to enlist as commissioned officers instead of enlistees, as they would have earned their bachelor’s degrees — required to enlist as military officers — after graduation.

This option requires them to serve in the military for 39 months, however, as opposed to 18 to 21 months.

“The excessively long service period was a burden for me,” Park said about why he chose not to serve as an officer. “When I was in the military, the Air Force service period was 24 months and the Army was 21 months, which is half as much as the officer service period.

“But those around me who served as officers were mostly satisfied with their experience.”

Some teachers even choose to further postpone their enlistment and join the military after one or two years of teaching.

As is the case with college students, nearly a two-year absence caused by the military service forces teachers to readjust to work — with a lesser degree of concern though.

“Those around me who returned to work after serving in the military have adapted well,” Park said. “The work culture in school doesn’t significantly change in one or two years, so I don’t think we experience particular challenges.”

Medical students

Medical students are another group typically joining the military after finishing their studies.

Since medical education in college is six years long in Korea, medical students are allowed to postpone their enlistment until the age of 27. They can further delay until the age of 28, if they pursue studies in medical graduate school.

The Seoul National University College of Medicine entrance in is seen in southern Seoul on July 10, 2024. [NEWS1]

Upon finishing their long studies, medical students enlist as medical officers and serve in the military for 38 months.

“Most medical students graduate first and join the military after obtaining medical licenses,” a Military Manpower Administration official said during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily.

But there has been a recent surge of medical students who opted to serve in the military as enlistees instead since the service period gap between enlistees and officers became wider around 2020.

Around 200 medical students reportedly completed their military service as enlistees in 2022, twice the number reported in 2018.

The Military Manpower Administration official also said that he did hear about the recently shifting trend among medical students.

No right or wrong timing for enlistment

Subjects studied in college are a factor that determines when men prefer to enlist as seen in the preceding examples.

Whether they enlist early or late, they inevitably spend nearly two years outside of their comfort zones, in addition to undertaking reserve forces duties after their initial period of service.

There is thus no right or wrong timing for enlistment, although preference for particular enlistment ages continues to be a reality for Korea's young men.

The timing merely decides their experience after being discharged, whether that is continuing their studies, starting a new career or returning to work.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]