SOUTH KOREA: First cadet group of female reserve officers formed

Record ID: 230065

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA: First cadet group of female reserve officers formed
  • Date: 11th December 2010
  • Summary: CADETS SALUTING
  • Embargoed: 26th December 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Korea, Republic of
  • Country: South Korea
  • Topics: Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVACFEA68UQ9TB1WDS37YWQDR2ZQ
  • Story Text: South Korea established its first female Reserve Officers Training Corps in Seoul today (December 10).
    Tensions are high on the Korean peninsula since North Korea fired artillery shells at a South Korean island of Yeonpyeong on November 23, killing four people, including two civilians.
    The South Korean army picked 60 female university students for the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), a college-based officer training programme.
    "There are some areas in service only women can do, and women can do whatever men can. This is the beginning -- we are claiming here that we will do our task well," said Lieutenant Kim Na-mi, a trainer of the Female ROTC.
    A cadet said the South Korean army should respond strongly to North Korean attacks.
    "We should not respond to any military provocation in a mild way. We should respond to North Korea's provocation strongly, after planning a good strategy," said Yoo Sang-hee at the ceremony of establishing the Female ROTC.
    Sixty students from six colleges were chosen as cadets for this pilot programme.
    "It's a new challenge to be a member of the first female ROTC, so I should think about my responsibility first, rather than getting benefits from being a member of ROTC," said Kim Haebitna at the ceremony held in Seoul's Sookmyung University.
    Seoul's Yonhap News Agency quoted the Army last month as saying that the female students would receive military education and training for two years and begin their 28-month service as officers in 2013.
    The agency also said South Korea had first launched the ROTC in 1963, but female college students had been barred from enrolling. The army said it would make the pilot programme for women permanent if it is proved successful.
    The agency added that the military had allowed women to enter military academies since 1998. Currently, there are some 2,900 female military officers in South Korea, accounting for about four percent of the total number of officers.
    North and South Korea are still technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce without a peace treaty and have stationed about one million troops near their respective sides of the Demilitarized zone (DMZ), dividing North and South Korea.
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