South Korea: Why having more children might be ticket to exemption from mandatory military service

South Korea is reportedly mulling offering incentives to men to avoid the country’s mandatory military service. As the East Asian nation battles a declining birth rate, it may start exempting men from conscription if they have three or more babies before they turn 30, Time magazine reported citing South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo. What is South Korea’s mandatory military service? What are the drawbacks of this proposed draft exemption policy? Why is the nation facing a demographic crisis? We explain. South Korea’s military enlistment South Korea mandates all able-bodied men to serve in the military for about 18 to 21 months.

They have to enlist by the age of 28.

However, as per a bill passed owing to the global boy band BTS in 2020, South Koreans who “excel in popular culture and art” can delay the mandatory military service until the age of 30. As per Time, athletes playing World Cup or those who win medals at the Olympics are among the rare exemptions to conscription. Criticism of the proposed exemption policy The ruling conservative People Power party is seeking ways to tackle the demographic crisis after South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol called for “bold and sure measures” earlier this month, Time reported citing Chosun Ilbo. A part leader told Chosun.com that their plan to offer draft exemption is not yet “finalised,” but it is being “reviewed”. However, the proposal is already receiving backlash. According to local media outlet Kukmin Ilbo, a user wrote online: “Are you encouraging teenagers to give birth?” “Who would have three children to avoid going to the military?” asked another. [caption id=“attachment_12359642” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] South Korea government’s idea to boost population through a draft exemption policy is receiving flak. Reuters (Representational Image)[/caption] Experts have also raised objections to the idea, saying it fails to address issues discouraging young people from starting families. Speaking to Time, Jeffrey Robertson, an associate professor from Yonsei University in Seoul, termed the idea “laughable” and “dangerous”. “You’re setting up a situation where young mothers are going to potentially be pushed into having children to allow a male to avoid military service.” Erin Hye-Won Kim, associate professor of public administration at the University of Seoul, told Time: “We cannot ask people to have babies for the national economic growth or the sustainability of the country—we shouldn’t think of fertility as such [a] tool”. ALSO READ: ‘Japan will disappear’: The country’s declining population and the challenges to tackle the crisis explained South Korea’s demographic troubles In February, South Korea recorded the world’s lowest fertility rate, breaking its own record again. As per Statistics Korea, the average number of expected babies per South Korean woman plunged to 0.78 last year, down from 0.81 in 2021. South Korea is the only nation in the world to have a fertility rate below one, noted The Guardian. Experts say the rate needs to be 2.1, considered the “replacement level” required to ensure a stable population. Around 2,49,000 babies were born last year, a dip of 4.4 per cent from 2021. As per Yonhap news agency, in 2022, the average age at which South Korean women give birth was 33.5, a 0.2 increase from the previous year. According to World Population Review, South Korea has a population of 51,794,818. The population is further predicted to plummet to 38 million by 2070, as per The Guardian. Deaths have exceeded births in the Asian nation since 2020. Moreover, fewer and fewer people are getting married in South Korea . Only 1,92,000 couples tied the knot last year – a 0.4 per cent drop from 2021. This was the 11th consecutive year of decline in weddings, as per data by Statistics Korea. Korea’s measures to boost population The falling population could affect South Korea’s economy due to labour shortages and a growing ageing population. Like Japan, which is also witnessing a demographic crisis, South Korea’s government has introduced measures to boost the birth rate. President Yoon said last September that the government has invested over $200 billion in programmes in the past 16 years alone to improve the country’s declining birth rate, reported NPR. Yoon’s government released a number of measures in December to address the population crisis, such as incentivising child-bearing and ending discrimination against women in the workplace, reported Yonhap news agency. In January, South Korea said it would extend the paid parental leave period from one year to a year and six months. [caption id=“attachment_12359652” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] More people in South Korea are choosing not to marry and start a family. Reuters (Representational Image)[/caption] The government is also planning to increase the monthly allowance given to parents with a child below one year of age from 300,000 won per month (about $230) to 1 million won by 2024. The government has also pledged to make affordable housing and more jobs available for young people. Why is the fertility rate still low? Experts say these measures are not resolving the inherent issues that are dissuading young people from tying the knot or starting families such as rising costs of living, traditional gender roles and skewed work-life balance. Andrew Yeo, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for East Asia Policy Studies, told NPR that the South Korean government’s approach is a “Band-Aid solution”. “The child care subsidies, the leaves — these are all things you can visibly see and argue ‘Yes, we are making these attempts,’” he stated. “But dealing with the structural problems that aren’t directly related to fertility, that’s a big ship to turn around.” A shortage of affordable housing, especially in major cities like Seoul, has also deterred young people from getting married and starting families. The patriarchal culture persistent in South Korea that puts the onus on women for childcare and rearing is also discouraging women from getting married. “My mother had three children in her early to mid-20s and I hated seeing her struggle just to take care of us,” Yun-Jeong Kim, a product designer and art instructor in her 30s, told NPR. “The family culture in Korea is still very patriarchal, and based on the reality I saw, everything incurs a loss [for the woman] and I don’t want to do that”, she elaborated on why her dream of having children one day is “just a fantasy” now. South Korea’s work culture leaves the employees with no work-life balance. The country has the longest workweeks of any of the 38 member nations of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). “There’s a sense [in South Korea] that, particularly for men but increasingly for women as well, that your contribution in the office is really what makes you a person of status and standing in society, even more than in America,” economist Lyman Stone told NPR. This extreme “workism” culture compounded with ongoing gender debate in Korea has led to a fall in the marriage rate in the nation, say experts. President Yoon’s anti-feminist stance, such as abolishing South Korea’s gender equality ministry, has also apparently made matters worse. “Although no previous governments in South Korea managed to reverse the downward trend in fertility rates for the past decade, the current government’s policies could make it even more difficult to tackle the issue than it already is,” journalist Hawon Jung said, as per NPR. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.