What It's Like To Serve In South Korea's Mandatory Military Service

South Korea requires all of its male citizens to serve in the military for two years. Here's what that experience is like. Footage courtesy of Goyang TV, 2012 Following is a transcript of the video. The hardest part was when I and my group had to go into this gas-filled room. My name is Gene Kim, and I served in the South Korean military for 2 years. The law requires every male to serve the military, and it is extremely hard to get out of it. If you purposely evade the military duty, you will get jail