Korean Army Fieldwork Project
Interview #1: Robert Roh

Una Lee: I’m doing a fieldwork on the kundae or Korean army. Can you please tell me what the official rule is?
Robert Roh: The official law in Korea is basically that all able men that have at least graduated from junior high school should enlist in the army.
UL: Between a certain age?
RR: Up to 35. Basically you have to have some sort of service whether it’s the army or public service or the police force or something that you have to apply for at least. This is for all Korean male citizens.
UL: Can I ask about your background? So obviously you were born in Korea since you went to the army. Can you just tell me about how you went and how you immigrated and what your life was like in America?
RR: Sure. I was born on November 20, 1974 in Seoul, Korea. I came out here in May 25th of 1982. When we first came, we came to Dallas, Texas and the reason why we came over was that my father came here as a branch manager for a big company in Korea. And so we originally moved here for a three year term on a business visa.
UL: So you ended up staying?
RR: Yeah, so after the first 3 years, we were originally going to go home but then we decided not to for another 3 years. Then what happened after the 6 years is that my parents decided to stay out here afterwards. So basically, there were various reasons, but we decided to stay predominantly for my brother and my education.
UL: So you guys eventually moved to California. And then you went to college where?
RR: I went college at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
UL: Obviously, you went during college back to Korea to serve. How did you even find out you had to go back, did they call you back?
RR: If you’re a Korean citizen, by law, you have to sign a contract that says that if you’re not going to school or other justifiable reasons, then during the time when you’re not going to that, you should enlist in the army. That’s the Korean law. So I never changed my citizenship for various reasons, predominantly because of my father’s business reasons. My family never went through the green card process, but if you have a green card, you do get an exemption from the army.
UL: So how did they call you back? Like you just knew to come?
RR: They didn’t call me back. After my 3rd year at University of Michigan, there were various factors for me to go back. I found out from my immigration lawyer that my status was up meaning I was kicked out of my parents’ visa and so I made some decisions as to what to do and how I should do things. And it didn’t look like the army situation was just going to dissolve for me at that time. There are various ways people go at it, but I didn’t want to duck any laws and try to do anything that wasn’t of normal procedure. So after 3rd year, my family went through some difficult times with financial reasons. That was probably the main reasons why I decided to take a break and go ahead and finish my duties in Korea so I don’t have to worry about it. And I came back afterwards to finish up my degree.
UL: So you decided to go back…once you were back, what happened?
RR: As soon as you go back, what happens is, you turn in your visa and they type your name up. Anyone who is of a certain age comes up and I got in. They took me into this room by myself in the immigration office and asked me what my name was and things like that. So I gave it and basically now the government knows that you’re back in the country officially and I had period, legally, of 2 weeks to register in the army.
UL: So they knew you were back, but if you hadn’t gone back, would there be a way for them to trace your whereabouts in the world so that you’d have to come back?
RR: In most cases, they won’t track you down but if you ever step onto Korean soil, then there could be problems later if you find ways to duck illegally.
UL: So you’re in the office and they realize you’re of age, so within those 2 weeks you went to the army?
RR: The first thing you have to do is…well, I’m in a very special case because my Korean social security is existing…I didn’t have a card or anything because I was in the US for 13 years. So I had to get ID cards, register…then I went to the army office to register. And after that, you wait and they assign you a date to come in for a physical examination. It’s there that you get rated 1 through 7. If you get rated 1, 2, or 3, you enlist in the regular army. If you get a 4, you go to a public service type of duty.
UL: So that means you’re less able bodied to serve in the army?
RR: Yes…it can be anything. 4 would be like, just not good enough…someone who would not be a good foot soldier. So I got passed, but at that time, I didn’t go straight in because I asked for an extension in my time because there were various things I wanted to accomplish before I went in. And I did get that extension.
UL: So once you’re in, you had to do training.
RR: Well, it’s a waiting period and after the physical exam, they’ll tell you the day that you should be going and which boot camp you’ll be going to. When that day came, I got on the bus and got dropped off at the training facility which for me was in a place called nong san which is south of Seoul, about 2 _ - 3 hours, had my last lunch before I went in. They had a short little ceremony, very emotional ceremony where mothers and sons were crying as they go. And they go in and they make it look like it’s going to be all nice. From that day on, you’re a property of the Korean army.
UL: So once you were in and all the crying was over, what did they make you do? Was it what you expected?
RR: In the beginning, they give you the clothing and the basic stuff you need as a soldier and you do some paperwork stuff. If they find out you have any specializations and you have documentation for it…you get your immunization…this takes about 2 to 3 days and then you go into boot camp. Looking back, in comparison with everything, it wasn’t very hard…it was very lax in there [the army]…but the first night, you always hear a couple kids crying at night. It was pretty…because the army’s all about your rank. At that time, you don’t even have a rank…you’re lower than the lowest. It’s not like the US army because you don’t register to get in, you’re obligated to go. So I went in and from that point, you get situated and go to boot camp after that. Boot camp period for everyone is about 6 weeks.
UL: How long was your entire service?
RR: Normal service is 26 months currently.
UL: So did you have a specialization in the army? What was your role?
RR: I was basically in as a language interpreter…translation interpreter for English and Korean.
UL: In terms of your army experience, is it as horrid as it sounds or was it not that bad or fond memories?
RR: First year is really hard because you’re trying to understand the system, survive in the system. For me, it was a heck of a lot more experience because I hadn’t been through that [because I had been in America]…I didn’t know what to expect. It was tough. Physically, it’s tough for everyone. They make you go through the training, the routines, and it is physically very draining. For example, I had an ingrown toenail in the last two weeks that go really bad and you can’t just quit because then you have to start all over. That’s not a possibility. So you have to muster it out and basically, one of the last things you do is about a 24 kilometer hike with a full pack which is about 60 pounds, give or take. But Korea’s not that flat terrain place, lot of hills…so my foot was drenched in blood and afterwards my toenail fell off and stuff. And also because of your boots, boots aren’t casual tennis shoes. So I ripped off the back of my ankle so much that it was always infected and such for quite a bit. Yeah, things like that, you learn how important every part of your body is in the army because you have to take care of it and unless you know how to take care of it, it becomes really hard.
UL: Did you see any guys who just couldn’t hack it? Were there any guys who felt like dropping out or did drop out?
RR: Well, there’s always horror stories that you hear about. When I was in training, I was in an interesting position because I kinda came in late than the average person. The average soldier is between the ages of 19 and 21 and when I went, I was 24, almost 25. So I was a lot older, but for some reason, the rest of my division…there were a few translators like me but every else, they were all drivers. They were all younger, good people…good, innocent KIDS. There’s always stories of kids trying to commit suicide because they can’t hack it or kids trying to run away which is even dumber because if they’re caught, they’ll be thrown in military prison. But while I was there….you can’t fight in the army either because you’ll get stuck in military prison for a couple of days. But there was only one fight while I was there. There was this one horror story. For grenade throwing drills, you button all your clothes up to that top, but there was a story where a kid, he put a grenade inside his clothes and it exploded on him, he committed suicide. There are worse stories.
UL: During your entire service there, did anything happen where you actually had to go into full service or where it wasn’t just training?
RR: Well, after the 6 weeks, I was assigned to a Korean defense intelligence committee, the headquarters. I was assigned there and our duty was, instead of fighting with guns, we fought with our translation speed and our typing speed. We had the routine yearly training exercises we had to do which were horrendous for us because our bodies weren’t used to training all the time. But we had to run 24 hours/365 days a year translation, listening to radio stations, tv stations, short wave radio, internet. And in it, we basically looked for intelligence material and we reported 24 hour rotations. There were 2 big things that happened while I was in the army. There was a time when a North Korean submarine got marooned in South Korea and there was a crazy hunt for them where there was a battalion that was chasing after them. Some of the North Koreans [in the submarine] committed suicide. That was one. And the other thing was, in 1999 or 2000, the North Koreans shot off an experimental rocket which caused emergency cases for us where we saw generals come down and ask for data which never happens. You never see a general, but that’s what happened.
UL: Since you were from America and you didn’t grow up with the daily reminders that you would have to serve in the army, do you think the native Korean guys were better prepared for the army than you?
RR: Sure.
UL: Do you mean physically, mentally?
RR: Culturally because they expected it.
UL: How was it coming back? So you finished your service, did you stay in Korea a while or did you come right back?
RR: Pretty much, 3 months later I had to get back because my brother was getting married. Visas are hard to get coming back out. I didn’t know all that before I went in but it turned out that going to the Korean army really helped me out because that got me my clearance right away. Because there are a lot of people who say they’re going to come back and they don’t. And since I had made the extra effort to come in and finish before going back out, that automatically showed my patriotism/trust.
UL: You just mentioned a brother who got married. Is the reason he didn’t have to serve because he got married? Why didn’t he have to go back?
RR: He was in school at the time so was exempt.
UL: And because he got married [to a citizen], he didn’t have to go back?
RR: Yes.
UL: Okay, I think that’s it. Thanks Robert.
RR: No problem.