Report Reveals South Korean Soldiers Fed Poor Quality Food

by lee.hyung-ju on Monday, October 8, 2012

A South Korean soldier fries eggs on a shovel. Image for illustration purposes, obviously.

A recent National Assembly investigation into food in the military revealed that a South Korean soldier is fed for just ₩2,051 won (1.42EUR/1.85USD) per meal, an amount far lower than that given to American soldiers and even less than most Seoul elementary school pupils receive. Images of inedible-looking barrack meals in the news have recently inspired outrage and accusations that the South Korean military wastes its massive budget.
The member of the National Assembly behind the food budget report also made news recently for revealing another shocking military revelation: according to the most recent Ministry of Defense statistics, 64% of all deaths among members of the armed forces during the past five years have been from suicide.
South Koreans have a complicated relationship with the military, simultaneously relying on a huge standing army in defence against the North but also resenting conscription and the strict hierarchy of the armed forces.
While some comments praised the report, others repeated the argument that legislators will never understand military culture because so many of them did not serve. In fact, 46 of the 253 members of the current National Assembly who were eligible for the draft did not serve – that’s 18.2% (source) – a figure in stark comparison to the 6.4% of the overall eligible male population who do not do military service (source). Political commentary often cites this disparity as an example of how politicians allegedly follow a different set of rules from the average citizen.

Assembly Member Jung presented these images of meals served at training bases this September

Article from E-Daily:

Soldiers go hungry, daily meals worth just half of meals given to US Army

While the annual budget for feeding the armed forces rose by 4% this year, it still remains at a low level.

Saenuri Party member Jung Hee-soo, of the National Assembly Defense Committee, stated in an investigative report distributed on 3rd October that “in 2012, the funds allotted for one meal for a soldier is 2,051 won ($1.84), adding up to just 6,155 won ($5.54) for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” The report goes on to say, “the amount doesn’t even match that allotted for Seoul primary or middle school students, whose individual meal costs are respectively 2,580 won ($2.32) and 3,250 won ($2.93).”

The figures mentioned in the report mean that the cost of a soldier’s meal is just 63% of that given to middle school students and 79% of a primary school student’s.

Compared with the US military, the meal budget for Korean soldiers looks even worse. In 2012, the allotment for an American soldier was 11,385 won ($10.23) per day, or 3,795 won ($3.41) per meal. This means that a Korean soldier must eat a meal worth just 54% of the meal an American soldier receives.

Assembly Member Jung then presented photos of the meals provided at Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine mess halls.

On the 10th September, a lunch provided at a Marine mess hall consisted of rice, curry, kimchi, and a few sesame leaves. Breakfast at an Air Force barracks was broth with a few bean sprouts, kimchi, soft tofu, and sautéed squid.

Describing the food, Jung said, “Looking at these photos, it is doubtful that a soldier on training, fatigued in body and spirit, could keep up his strength with such meals…When you consider that the mess halls probably took care to make their meals look more substantial when they sent photographs at the request of the National Assembly, the typical meals must be even less than this.”

He added, “Next year’s allocation for the military meal budget is also set to rise just 4.5%, such minute increases are not sufficient to make the meals match the reality of our soldiers’ needs. Knowing that a soldier’s morale can be determined by how he eats, it is paramount that we solve the problem of inadequate meals, regardless of how small our military budget may be.”