By 2045, S. Korea’s pool of eligible male conscripts could shrink to just 100,000 per year, lawmaker warns, underscoring the need to tap female service
Female troops of the South Korean Army stand together during frontline duty at a guard post near the inter-Korean border in September 2021, commemorating the 71st anniversary of women’s service in the military. (Republic of Korea Army) A South Korean lawmaker has proposed a legislative bill that would allow women to enlist as rank-and-file soldiers, as the country faces a growing shortage of military personnel due to persistently low birth rates.
Rep. Kim Mi-ae of the People Power Party, who drafted and submitted the bill to the National Assembly on Tuesday, said opening barracks to women is essential to protecting national security.
North Korea is estimated to have around 1 million active-duty troops. Latest figures show South Korea’s active-duty force has shrunk to 450,000 as of July 2025.
Current law technically permits women to volunteer, but in practice, they are only recruited as officers or non-commissioned officers. Rep. Kim’s bill would require military authorities to accept applicants regardless of gender and to report annually to parliament on the experiences and challenges of female soldiers.
The opposition lawmaker pointed to demographic projections that the number of male conscript candidates could fall to just 100,000 per year within two decades. She said in a statement that “a drastic measure is needed to ensure national security” and emphasized the need to widen opportunities for voluntary female service so the armed forces can draw from the broadest pool of talent.
The scale of the problem is already visible. Data obtained by Rep. Choo Mi-ae’s office from the Defense Ministry and the Military Manpower Administration shows that South Korea’s active-duty force has shrunk from 560,000 in 2019 to 450,000 in July this year.
The threshold of 500,000 troops, often described as the minimum needed under the armistice with North Korea, was breached two years ago, and troop strength is now about 50,000 below that mark.
The army has absorbed the steepest decline, dropping from 300,000 enlisted soldiers to 200,000 in six years. The South Korean government has already loosened health and fitness standards to expand eligibility, lifting the acceptance rate for active-duty service from 69.8 percent in 2019 to 86.7 percent this year.
mjh@heraldcorp.com