Defense ministry considers easing standards for exempting the mentally ill from conscription

The defense ministry is pushing changes in standards in draft exemptions for people with a history of mental illness, a ministry official said Sunday.

"We're working on revising the standards on a large scale in evaluating the depth of mental diseases during physical exam for conscription," the official said. "In particular, we're aggressively pushing for measures to lower the minimum history of hospital treatment in judging the level of mental disorders."

Currently, those who have received hospital treatment for one year or longer for mental illness are exempted from conscription.

The military is considering lowering the standard to six months, according to the official.

The move comes in the aftermath of a spate of suicides and incidents by conscripts who failed to adapt to life in the barracks.

In April, a 23-year-old Army private first class died after weeks of beatings and abuse by his superiors. Three more conscripts killed themselves later after complaining of insults by colleagues.

A sergeant who was bullied went on a shooting rampage at another front-line guard post in June. 

Records showed military hospitals treated 38,381 cases of soldiers with mental problems last year, a five-year high.

All able-bodied South Korean men are subject to compulsory military service for about two years in a country facing North Korea across the heavily fortified border. Conscripts mostly in their early 20s account for a large chunk of the country's 650,000-member military. (Yonhap)