The Defense Ministry has embarked on its review on the military reform plan from President Moon Jae-in, who pledged during the election campaign to shorten the period of conscription from the current 21 months to 18 months.

After peaking at 36 months during the Park Chung-hee regime, the military service term -- based on the army -- has continued to reduce over the past few decades. It was 26 months between 1993 and 2003 and 24 months between 2003 and 2010.