{"slug": "military-duty-alternative-revives-for-large-conglomerates-after-14-years-amid-ai", "title": "Military duty alternative revives for large conglomerates after 14 years amid AI drive", "summary": "South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT recommended LG Electronics, HD Hyundai Robotics, Samsung Medison and Samsung Electronics to host expert research personnel, with their nine research institutes requesting 81 personnel, according to data submitted to Rep. Hwang Jung-a of the Democratic Party of Korea. The move would resume assignments of science and engineering graduates with master's or doctoral degrees to large conglomerates for the first time in 14 years, letting them work three years at research sites instead of serving 18 to 21 months of regular military service. New large-conglomerate assignments were suspended in 2013 to secure R&D personnel for small and medium-sized enterprises.", "body_md": "The assignment of expert research personnel to large conglomerates is expected to resume for the first time in 14 years, this time in the artificial intelligence (AI) field, helping prevent research career interruptions and the outflow of workers abroad. According to data submitted by the Ministry of Science and ICT to Rep. Hwang Jung-a of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea on Sunday, the ministry recommended LG Electronics, HD Hyundai Robotics, Samsung Medison and Samsung Electronics to be designated for hosting expert research personnel, with their nine research institutes needing 81 personnel. The expert research personnel program lets science and engineering graduates with master's or doctoral degrees work at research sites for three years instead of serving 18 to 21 months in the regular military, depending on the branch. However, new assignments to large conglomerates were suspended in 2013 to secure research and development personnel for small and medium-sized enterprises, closing off the path to military service at large conglomerate research institutes and drawing criticism f", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/military-duty-alternative-revives-for-large-conglomerates-after-14-years-amid-ai", "canonical_source": "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/society/20260920/military-duty-alternative-revives-for-large-conglomerates-after-14-years-amid-ai-drive?utm_source=rss", "published_at": "2026-09-20 05:17:02+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-20 05:24:01.658830+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "ai-research"], "entities": ["Ministry of Science and ICT", "Hwang Jung-a", "Democratic Party of Korea", "LG Electronics", "HD Hyundai Robotics", "Samsung Medison", "Samsung Electronics"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/military-duty-alternative-revives-for-large-conglomerates-after-14-years-amid-ai", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/military-duty-alternative-revives-for-large-conglomerates-after-14-years-amid-ai.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/military-duty-alternative-revives-for-large-conglomerates-after-14-years-amid-ai.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/military-duty-alternative-revives-for-large-conglomerates-after-14-years-amid-ai.jsonld"}}