Minister of National Defense Ahn Kyu-baek plans to implement a 'selective volunteer system' for about 3,000 people starting next year.

Minister of National Defense Ahn Gyu-baek announced plans to implement a 'selective volunteer system' at the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly on the 20th. This system is President Lee Jae-myung's presidential election pledge in the defense field, and establishes a new technology-intensive non-commissioned officer department, allowing enlisted men to choose whether to work as a technology-intensive noncommissioned officer or as an active duty soldier. Minister Ahn said, ‘This time, we plan to select approximately 3,000 technology-intensive non-commissioned officers and enable them to handle cutting-edge weapons.’ Additionally, he explained that discussions are underway on whether the mandatory service period should be 3 or 4 years. The selective volunteer system is based on the existing conscription system, but is a system that allows enlistees to serve as active duty soldiers or technology-intensive non-commissioned officers depending on their choice. Minister Ahn also said about the 425 project that 'the visit cycle for surveillance of North Korea is being shortened.' Project 425 is a project to secure military reconnaissance satellites to detect signs of North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations. Air Force Chief of Staff Son Seok-rak said of the temporary distributed deployment of the Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing at Gwangju Military Airport, 'We judged that its strategic value sufficiently exceeded that.'