North Korea introduces ‘mandatory military service for women’

9 years ago | Posted in: women | 2462 Views

North Korea is making military service mandatory for young women in a bid to strengthen the nation’s armed forces, sources inside the secretive state have told DailyNK.

The measure is said to apply to women aged between 17 and 20, and has been handed down to mobilisation offices in each province, city, and county. Implementation is reported to be already underway.

“Late last year, we received orders for all women who have graduated from middle and high school to undergo mandatory military service,” a source based in North Hamkyung Province told Daily NK this week.

“The preliminary screening and physicals related to enlistment, which begins in April, are all complete and duty sectors have been organised,” the source said.

Screenings look for physical problems or contagious diseases. The minimum height requirement for women to serve was lowered to 142cm in 2012, but this standard is not strictly enforced, according to the source.

Customarily, enlistment in North Korea occurs twice a year in April and August, and up until now, women served on a voluntarily basis, while men invariably underwent mandatory service.

School graduates (17-18 years-old) enlist in April, while the enlistment period for workers at or under the age of 20 takes place in August.

This new policy, however, is not expected to compel women to serve the same length of time as men. “Unlike men, who have to serve for 10 years, mandatory service for women is only up to the age of 23,” the source said… see more

source: Guardian UK

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