Military Manpower Administration marks one year under Lee government with expanded draft-dodger disclosures, tighter ID checks

The Military Manpower Administration announced Friday that it had achieved a series of policy milestones over the past year aimed at strengthening the fairness of military service obligations and supporting young people under the People's Sovereignty Government.

To increase accountability in fulfilling military duties, the agency expanded the personal information disclosed about draft evaders starting this year. Six categories of personal data are currently made public — including name, age and address — but address disclosure now extends to building numbers for evaders identified from this year onward. The travel destinations of those who violated overseas travel permit requirements will also be newly disclosed.

Starting with this year's induction physical examinations, the agency introduced a kiosk-based facial recognition system to verify the identities of conscripts. Previously, examiners manually compared ID photos with faces; the new electronic system allows for more accurate identification.

The agency also streamlined procedures to ease the time and financial burden on young men preparing for induction. Interviews were eliminated from the selection process for most active-duty volunteer specialties, and the Air Force's general enlisted selection method was changed from a high-score competition to a random public lottery to reduce excessive competition.

Requests to postpone induction dates on the grounds of planned university enrollment or pending departure from the country are now processed automatically, allowing applicants to receive results immediately rather than waiting an average of two days under the previous system.

In line with the government's push to expand future growth engines, the agency increased industrial manpower support for nationally prioritized sectors. This year, 500 industrial service personnel slots were allocated to advanced strategic industries — including semiconductors, secondary batteries and biotech — an increase of 200 from the previous year.

Alongside this, the agency introduced bonus points for AI and defense industry companies when recommending research institutions for military service designation. As a result, 36 percent of research institutions newly selected in the first half of this year came from those two sectors.

"We will continue to pursue military administration that enhances fairness and public trust in line with the national policy direction of the People's Sovereignty Government," Military Manpower Administration Commissioner Hong So-young said. "We will do our utmost to support healthy military service among youth and build a conscription system the public can rely on." Hong visited the Central Veterans Hospital in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, on Thursday to deliver consolation funds to patients.