North Korean authorities reportedly conscripted graduates of prestigious high schools into the military this March, despite earlier praise in 2022 and 2023 for their voluntary service in challenging sectors. The move reflects a growing shortage of military recruits.
Over 300 senior students from Pyongyang’s top high schools volunteered for service at frontline border outposts. On March 12, Radio Free Asia (RFA) cited an anonymous source in Yanggang Province who described the conscription process, called chomo. The source said graduates from elite high schools must take mandatory physical exams at local military offices, and those who pass must enlist.
The source revealed that since fall 2020, under orders from the Central Military Commission, some children from disadvantaged families were forced into labor-heavy sectors, such as coal mines, farms, and saltworks, despite claims that these assignments were voluntary.
The source explained that authorities first sent graduates who failed physical exams to these demanding sectors.
Due to a personnel shortage, North Korean authorities abruptly changed course. In February, they recalled young people who graduated in 2022 and 2023 and had worked in mines and saltworks and ordered them to join the military.
The source noted that some graduates who volunteered for these assignments without taking physical exams used this to avoid military service.
Another anonymous official from Yanggang Province said the party had required military service for any graduate able to handle a weapon until last year. This year, the policy now includes anyone fit for manual labor.
The official added that central authorities ordered these volunteers not to return home after military service but to return to their former work sites. This has led many to question why they took difficult jobs if they would end up in military service anyway.
The source concluded that locals now mock those who tried to avoid military service by volunteering, saying they only worsened their situation.
