South Korea

摘要

South Korea's armed forces number roughly 625,000, along with 3.1 million reserves. Under the Defense Reform 2.0 initiative announced by the Ministry of Defense on July 27, 2018, the overall size of the active-duty military will contract from 640,000 to 500,000 personnel by 2022. Troop reductions are to be offset by research and investments into advanced technologies and 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) capabilities. Military service is not voluntary; conscripts currently serve 21 months. The conscription mandate is being reduced to 18 months under the Defense Reform 2.0 initiative.