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1. Introduction
Military service is classified into mandatory, volunteer, and mixed systems. Although conscription itself has a long history, a growing number of countries have recently adopted either a volunteer system or a mixed system, largely limiting the option to resume conscription during wartime[1]. With that being said, budgetary burdens and geopolitical threats have kept Korean authorities from transferring the compulsory military system to a volunteer system. The Military Service Law stipulates that every male between the ages of 18 and 38, except those who have some severe physical or mental injury, such as a torn ACL, a missing index finger, or a serious mental illness, must serve a term of mandatory military duty[2]. The period of service varies depending on which branch one belongs to and whether one is an enlisted soldier or an officer. The active period of military service has generally varied, depending on the geopolitical situation, ranging from two to three years. Yet, the mandatory term for military service in Korea still remains set at 21 months since it was last shortened in 2003.
However, the military service requirement in Korea has been widely criticized as being unfair; while many serve in the army, others who are exempt from military service continue with their education or pursue a career and earn money[3]. In particular, since the previous practice of giving extra points on entrance exams for public vacancies to male applicants who had completed their mandatory military duty was ruled unconstitutional in 1999, this belief has become more deeply entrenched. Although the period of one’s military service is currently recognized as part of a person’s career, many people still suspect that military service is not duly rewarded and that it hampers the opportunity to get educated or to build one’s career. Since the 1999 ruling, there have been continued attempts to revive the system that provides advantages to those who have completed military service, such as a call to reinstate the previous extra points system with a minor correction[4].
Accordingly, it is necessary to evaluate the economic premium of military service in a more sophisticated manner before discussing the validity and the effects of an incentive program for encouraging the military draft. Given that the long-standing draft system since the Korean...