2018/03/22
The Ministry of National Defense issued press release regarding the false media report of “The black hole of military strength of the nation army has been generated” and clarification of the report (March 22nd, 2018)
The Ministry of National Defense strictly refute the false report issued by The Journalist with regard to “The black hole of military strength of the nation army has been generated”, and clarify as follows:
I. The total troop of the national army is 215 thousand people, and excluding deduction amount of 19 thousand people (students, enlistment, under training, sickness and non-payment of salaries) and civil service and contract workers (about 7.9 thousand people), the military troop is about 188 thousand people in total. 90% of planned target is about 169 thousand people, and we estimate that the amount of voluntary military service in the end of 2018 is about 152 thousand people, the preparation ratio is 81% and the vacancy amount is about 17 thousand people. Currently, the preparation ratio of voluntary military service of the army is 73%, which is inconsistent with the media report that the vacancy amount is more than 40 thousand people and the preparation ratio of the army is 54.3%.
II. The national army started to promote chaser of camp sites and establish camp police and access control system of the armory, replace human labor by technology and reducing manpower requirements, focus on the main duty of combat and training, but the promotion of the policy is irrelevant with the recruitment and the preparation ratio of the army.
III. The Ministry of National Defense emphasizes that the recruitment of the national army had been transformed since 2012, keep reducing compulsory military service and increasing voluntary military service year by year. As the compulsory military service that born before 1993 retired from military service, the obligatory military service is fully consisted of voluntary military service, and the ministry will keep improving supporting measures of recruitment and retain to maintain reliable military power to ensure national safety. We call on support and encouragement from the society and request the media to fulfill the responsibility of “public instrument”, they should fully responsible for verifying military news and report to avoid misleading.