The ROK military is facing a severe shortage in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) applicants as young people increasingly shun the junior officer position apparently because of pay rates and the long service periods.
According to the Army, the Korean Military Academy will announce an additional recruitment notice for ROTC candidates in August. The decision comes as the application rate for the ROTC program hit a record low this year, with the number of applicants falling short of the number of available spots.
It is the first time the Army will seek additional recruitment processes for cadets since the ROTC system was introduced here in 1961.
ROTC is a college-based officer commissioning program, under which cadets undergo physical and military education for four semesters and then serve for 24 to 36 months in the military after being commissioned.
There were about 16,000 ROTC applicants in 2016, but the figure steadily fell by 2,000 each year to mark 5,000 this year. The competition ratio, which stood at 4.8 to 1 in 2015, plunged to 2.4 to 1 in 2022.
Wary of the falling number of applicants, the Korean Army Academy has made some efforts to attract new cadets.
Beginning this year, the armed services decided to hold the ROTC commissioning ceremony twice a year ― in July in addition to their traditional March ceremonies ― so as to prevent cadets from dropping out of the ROTC programs. When the ceremony was held only once a year in March, some cadets chose to quit the program as they had to wait too long to be commissioned.
These efforts, however, seem insufficient to head off staffing challenges of the army that may eventually lead to troop shortfalls.
One reason behind the falling popularity of the ROTC program is the long service period, according to Shin Jong-woo, a senior researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, a think tank.
While enlisted soldiers currently serve 18 months in the army, junior officers have to serve 24 to 36 months depending on the army branch.
“And considering that the military is striving to improve treatment and payment condition of regular soldiers, young people are seeing less merit in the junior officer position,” he said.
After being commissioned, the monthly wage of a junior officer is set at around 1.8 million won ($1,412).
The government has promised to incrementally raise the monthly salaries of enlisted soldiers annually to as much as 1.5 million won and offer a separate subsidy of 550,000 won per month by 2025.
In that case, the monthly salary of enlisted soldiers may exceed that of junior officers in the next few years, Shin said.
“And if that happens, there will be little reason for young people to join the ROTC program and become an officer which entails more responsibility and a heavier workload,” he added.
The Ministry of National Defense, however, said that junior officers will not be paid less than enlisted soldiers despite the envisioned pay raise.
“Junior officers receive various allowances in addition to their basic salary. So even if the enlisted soldiers’ salaries are increased, it would not surpass the payment for junior officers,” said ministry spokesperson Jeon Ha-kyu during a briefing, Monday.
Regarding the military’s plan to additionally recruit ROTC cadets, the spokesperson said, “The additional recruitment is aimed at diversifying the recruitment process to provide more opportunities for talented individuals to apply for military officer positions.”
He also explained that the military is currently attempting to increase the ROTC application rate by enhancing job stability, expanding economic incentives and ensuring post-service employment conditions for the cadets.
