The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said that verbal abuse among cadets, double punishment, and other human rights violations persist at the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, and the Korea Armed Forces Nursing Academy, and that there are problems with the operation of unfair leave and overnight-stay systems. It recommended that each school chief strengthen human rights education and improve related regulations.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) announced on the 26th the results of last year's visits to the three academies, following the Army Academy in 2024. During the visits, the NHRC surveyed all cadets (1,750) and conducted in-depth interviews with 159 of them. Across the three academies, verbal abuse during guidance among cadets, unauthorized assemblies, and double punishment remained.
◇ Complaints over "blowing up rooms" and rules outside official regulations
According to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), at the Korea Armed Forces Nursing Academy, there were opinions that during the pre-admission period before formal entry, cadets faced sanctions such as disciplinary exercises if they failed to finish their meals within about 10 minutes after food was served.
At the Naval Academy, there was a so-called "bread party" culture in which prospective second-year cadets provided bread and milk to pre-admission cadets. While past abuses and bad practices such as forcing excessive eating or yelling have disappeared, it was found that pre-admission cadets experienced confusion between prospective second-year cadets telling them to eat and trainer cadets telling them not to.
At the Air Force Academy, there were opinions that "blowing up rooms" should be reformed. Even when no cadet was using a living room, senior cadets or training staff would enter without notice to check tidiness, and if they deemed it inadequate, they would throw belongings onto the bed.
At the Air Force Academy, although living-room doors have windows (side windows) and curtains, cadets said they must always be kept open during the first semester of the first year. This effectively allows anyone to look inside at any time. Even after the first semester of the first year, curtains had to be opened when leaving for outside activities.
Across the three academies, senior cadets still engaged in practices such as verbal abuse and swearing during guidance. In particular, at the Korea Armed Forces Nursing Academy, there was said to be an unwritten "bylaw" not found in official regulations. When a bylaw was violated, senior cadets would educate junior cadets by making them loudly report their mistakes in open areas such as hallways, which many said induced shame and humiliation.
◇ Naval and Air Force cadets keep "clothes rooms" for leave and overnight stays
At the three academies, there were common opinions that restrictions linking leave and overnight-stay rules to academic grades, English scores, and physical fitness tests, or differentiating the number of overnight stays by class year, were unreasonable.
Attire during leave and overnight stays also came under scrutiny. Cadets are basically required to wear dress uniforms, which are inconvenient for long-distance travel, and there were voices that the criteria for allowing civilian clothes varied by training staff member.
Some Naval and Air Force Academy cadets even keep "clothes rooms." It is a practice of renting a studio near the base or a bus terminal to change into civilian clothes.
Training staff were aware of the existence of clothes rooms and assessed them as undesirable. However, views diverged between those who said wearing dress uniforms during leave helps build a sense of belonging and those who said allowing civilian clothes would be fine considering the realities of officers' attire after commissioning.
◇ Some even "cancel" petitions over fears of disadvantages
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recommended to the three academy chiefs: include human rights education in the annual mandatory curriculum to prevent human rights violations and discrimination such as verbal abuse and swearing among cadets; revise related regulations so that the operation of leave and overnight-stay systems is not linked to grades; and prepare improvement measures to prevent invasion of cadets' privacy due to side windows in living rooms at the Air Force Academy.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) also pointed out that cadets find it difficult even to raise specific issues about their human rights situations. During the NHRC's visit, there were seven petitions, but three were withdrawn on the grounds that it would be difficult to continue military life if their identities were revealed. Of the remaining four, two did not respond to the Researcher's contact. Even the two that were maintained were cases where the cadet had left the school or requested investigation in an anonymous form as a third-party petition.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said, "Cadets at service academies are in an environment where it is difficult to raise specific issues about human rights situations, as hierarchical relationships based on class year with seniors and training staff continue almost for life," and added, "We hope this first full-population survey will contribute to improving cadet human rights at service academies."