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As Washington plans to withdraw 12,500 of the 37,000 USFK troops stationed on the peninsula in incremental stages by 2008, rumors are spreading that this will entail protracted military service for Korean youths.
The Ministry of National Defense is taking aggressive measures to block the spread of such rumors in university circles and on the Web that have arisen in response to the agreement to trim the number of U.S. forces here by one third.
An official at the ministry confirmed Tuesday that speculation of how the moves will affect compulsory military service is on the rise, and civil petitions have even been drawn up asking for clarification on the issue. The ministry decided to react by quashing the rumors as baseless and making similar announcements on the Internet.
On the bulletin board of the Defense Ministry's homepage, a number of messages question whether Army service will be extended to 30 or 42 months. Currently, mandatory military service is 24 months for Army personnel and Marine Corps, 26 months for the Navy and 27 months for the Air Force.
(Jang Il-hyun, ihjang@chosun.com )
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