The Ministry of National Defense stated today (9) that it would respond the to the media reports that "servicemen are dispatched to support production of masks, but reserve servicemen cannot stand up" is untrue and that the report is inconsistent with the facts. Under the direction of the Central Epidemic Command Center, the Ministry has worked fully to dispatch servicemen to support mask-production factories. At the initial stage, reserve headquarters of various counties and cities had recruited reserve soldiers to volunteer in the area and advised cadres to participate, and then officers and men under the reserve command were selected for dispatch. If the manpower is still lacking, troops from each of the regional combat divisions will be dispatched to support, and directives are to be centrally controlled and managed by the regional combat division. The dedication of our reserve servicemen contributes to the increase in mask output as their excellent performance is well perceived by all. The reserve force is currently sufficient, with no problems about whether they can stand up or not.

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) emphasized that epidemic prevention is one of the most important tasks at the moment, and the Ministry will continue to review the output of its forces based on epidemic prevention needs. As long as the Armed Forces can play a role in preventing epidemics, it will devote as much as possible until the mask shortage is alleviated. Most of all, efforts in support of the task production will persist until the domestic needs for epidemic prevention have been accommodated.