Cursing South Korean soldiers gagged

South Korean soldiers shout as they take part in an exercise on Baengnyeongdo, an island near the disputed maritime border with North Korea. South Korea’s top military brass have said there is no excuse for soldiers’ foul language

South Korean soldiers have been ordered to clean up their act, and cut out expletives.

Even as tensions simmer on the peninsula, top military brass have said there is no excuse for foul language, and rather the country’s half a million soldiers should brush up on their knowledge of history.





Defence Minister Kim Tae-young ordered his staff this week to strengthen “language purification education” to combat verbal abuse within the military, local media today quoted ministry officials as saying.

“These soldiers aren’t teenagers,” the Korea Herald quoted a senior ministry official as saying. “Once they are discharged in their 20s, they can’t be constantly cursing their way through life. That’s why we want to help clean up their language.”

All South Korean men must serve a mandatory 24 months in the military. The two Koreas are still technically at war, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.