A committee meant to reform the military culture recommended that the government give extra points to job applicants who complete military service, a move that could reignite the controversy over the divide between men and women.
   
The committee recommended that such applicants be given a bonus 2 percent on company examinations, but that only 10 percent of successful applicants at a single company can receive the benefit.
   
It also said an individual can only receive the benefit five times in his lifetime while those who received heavy punishment for serious wrongdoings will be excluded from the proposed benefits, according to the committee.
   
"To help encourage draftees to successfully carry out their military duty, the ministry will review the recommendation that calls for giving extra credits to enlistees when they apply for a job," the defense ministry said.
   
The move, however, could draw opposition from women, who are not obligated to serve in the military, at a time when the job market remains tight.
   
In 1999, the Constitutional Court ruled as unconstitutional the law giving males who served in the military an advantage in applying for public service positions, saying it was unfair to women and the disabled.
   
All able-bodied men must carry out compulsory military service for about two years in a country facing North Korea across its heavily fortified border.
   
The committee's recommendation also calls for giving nine credits to those who joined the military while attending a college, while allowing them to take credits by taking online classes at the barracks.
   
"As experiences for some two years in the military are key opportunities to learn about society, we think serving the military is tantamount to taking liberal arts courses," said a committee member.
   
Most draftees that account for a large chunk of the country's 650,000-member military are in their early 20s, who are forced to put their studies or careers on hold to join the armed forces.
   
The measures are part of South Korea's efforts to reform the rigid military culture following a series of tragic incidents at the barracks that revealed the military's decades-old ill practice of bullying and assaults.
   
In April, an Army private first class died after long suffering from physical, mental and even sexual abuse by his senior comrades.

Two months later, an Army sergeant went on a shooting spree, killing five people, after allegedly being bullied by his colleagues.
   
The committee also recommended the defense ministry reduce the current four ranks of conscripts to two or three to try to root out pervasive abuse and to revamp the hierarchy-based culture in barracks. Critics allege that some privates or private first classes who are beaten and bullied by corporals and sergeants abuse junior comrades after getting promoted. (Yonhap)