![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/news-p.v1.20260813.9a78e9dc1a5c4b80bbd0d61daa954d51_P1.jpg\"\/ "\\"Lee")
President Lee Jae-myung salutes the national flag during a meeting with senior secretaries at the Blue House on the 13th. Reporter Kwon Wook<\/p>\nPresident Lee Jae-myung salutes the national flag during a meeting with senior secretaries at the Blue House on the 13th. Reporter Kwon Wook<\/p>\n
President Lee Jae-myung on the 13th called for turning South Korea’s military into a “smart elite force” by introducing a selective volunteer military system. Following recent moves to overhaul the officer training system, including merging the army, navy and air force academies, the plan would also revamp how the military recruits enlisted soldiers and non-commissioned officers, reshaping its personnel structure around future warfare. The government plans to draw up a roadmap this year, begin the system next year, and revise it based on early results.<\/p>\n
“To prepare for future warfare, in which advanced weapons will be deployed in large numbers, a strategy to reshape the defense system around technology and advanced equipment is essential,” Lee said at a meeting with senior secretaries and aides held at the Blue House that day. “Maintaining the current inefficient military structure, centered on manpower and infantry, is neither possible nor desirable,” he said. “We must push defense reform quickly and without gaps to transform the military into a smart elite force by introducing a selective volunteer military system.”<\/p>\n
The selective volunteer military system is a mixed conscription model that keeps the draft framework in place while expanding professional personnel such as technology-intensive non-commissioned officers. Defense reform is expected to accelerate to address a shrinking pool of conscripts amid low birth rates and a rapidly changing battlefield environment centered on artificial intelligence (AI), drones and robots. Kang Yu-jung, chief presidential spokesperson, said in a briefing after the meeting that “the Ministry of National Defense will announce a detailed plan this year, begin the system next year and review its early performance.”<\/p>\n
Lee also called for bold improvements in the treatment of junior officers. “It is a major responsibility of the government to ensure that military service does not feel like a waste or a loss in one’s life,” he said. On responding to crimes against women and youths as investigative and indictment powers are separated, he ordered that the system be supplemented so that “not even a small gap arises.” He also raised the issue of a “marriage penalty,” asking officials to “make sure it does not feel unfair.” The remarks reflect an intent to address institutional disadvantages and blind spots in areas keenly felt by young people and women, such as military service, marriage and victimization by crime.<\/p>\n
Separately, on the issue of tightening the requirements for family business inheritance tax breaks, Lee reiterated on social media that “reducing unfair tax cuts is the path to tax normalization,” stressing again that the breaks should not be exploited as a means of avoidance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Lee Jae-myung salutes the national flag during a meeting with senior secretaries at the Blue House on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[35355,24904,31,146,61078,61077,61076,33,27943],"class_list":["post-118156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-south-korea","tag-conscription","tag-future-warfare","tag-korea","tag-lee-jae-myung","tag-military-personnel","tag-non-commissioned-officers","tag-selective-volunteer-military-system","tag-south-korea","tag-south-korea-defense-reform"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}