North Korean soldiers stand guard at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, about 55 km (31 miles) north of Seoul, November 9, 2004. [Reuters]
The Guardian: Ask a North Korean: what's life like in the army?
In an ongoing series, NK News poses a reader’s question to a defector. This week, enduring military service on an empty stomach.
In North Korea, men serve in the military for 10 years and women for seven. The special unit working as Kim Jong-un’s personal bodyguards serve for 13.
Military service is compulsory in the DPRK and most people enlist after high school. Those who are accepted into universities do their military service after they graduate.
Usually if you have a bachelor’s degree service lasts for five years, but if you studied engineering or science you serve three because the former leader Kim Jong-il wanted to encourage people to study science.
WNU Editor: Five years in the Army .... my head just spins when I think abut that.
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