• April 16, 2024

Are you married? Yes, sir! No, sir!

The Korea Military Academy plans to lift a decades-old ban on drinking, smoking and marrying to reflect social changes, according to a story in The Korea Times.

The army has prohibited cadets from drinking, smoking or marrying while attending the elite military academy since its establishment in 1952.

The bans are said to have been introduced to assist in the maintenance of discipline.
But the proposed new rules aim at relaxing the bans.

“The Army is considering improving the current system to apply separate rules on and off campus, taking into consideration the legal regulations, social trend and education purpose,” a senior Army official was quoted as saying. “Cadets will still be prohibited from those activities while on campus, on duty or in uniform, but they will be allowed on other occasions.”

Presumably, “those activities” refer to the drinking and smoking, unless marriage is being used here as a euphemism. It would not be possible to be married while in uniform or on the base but unmarried while out of uniform or off the base.