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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| ROK army conscripts like smartphones more than pulling guard duty |
| 2012-08-16 |
| A growing number of South Korea Army officers are denouncing the smart phone as the most powerful weapon the North Koreans have. The problem is that nearly all South Korean soldiers own smart phones and will go to great lengths to hang on to them, even when forbidden to carry them while on duty. In many cases, smart phones are not allowed on military bases. All this because smart phones distract soldiers from their work, especially boring chores like guard duty. This was discovered, with increasing frequency over the last few years as NCOs and officers out, especially at night, checking up on the guards, found the troops engrossed in some smart phone game, or texting or reading an e-book. Despite a growing number of soldiers being punished for having, and misusing, smart phones on duty, troops continue to risk using the devices. Some military psychologists are describing this attachment to their cell phones as an addiction. South Korea already recognizes addiction to the Internet or computer games as something worthy of serious medical care. All this is compounded by the fact that most South Korean soldiers are conscripts, who don't want to be in the military anyway. During my brief visit to Korea last month, I was surprised to see soldiers with earrings and non-buzzcut hair and such. Another problem with cell phones in the hands of soldiers is the amount of secret military information that gets leaked via Facebook pages and the Internet in general. South Korean intelligence experts know that North Korea has security analysts who do nothing but monitor the Internet for stuff South Korean soldiers have posted on line. This adds up to a lot of very detailed information (including lots of pictures and videos) on the South Korean military, what it is up to and what it is planning. |
| Posted by:gromky |
| #2 [MIGHTY HOMER SIMPSONIAN "DOH!" here]. The ROKS are just going to demand that HQ + Seoul find away to defeat the threat to their Smartphones. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-08-16 22:20 |
| #1 Please also note it is pretty easy to fly a intercept orbit and map the handshake of the phones to local towers for geolocation purposes. Don't know if NK has the resources, some do. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2012-08-16 14:26 |