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Sample glossary entries (basic training section) from the guide. / Ministry of National Defense

The Ministry of National Defense announced on the 5th that it has published an "Easy-to-Understand Military Life Glossary" for multicultural service members and those holding overseas permanent residency who face difficulty communicating in Korean.

The glossary will be available on the Military Manpower Administration's website starting this month and will also be provided to incoming recruits in booklet form. The publication was prepared as part of last year's "Plan to Improve Policies for Multicultural Service Members."

Some multicultural service members and overseas permanent residents have struggled to understand unfamiliar military terms such as salutes, lights-out, and roll call, creating demand for a multilingual glossary to address this gap. Since November of last year, the Ministry of National Defense worked with Hanyang University's Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, the selected contractor, to develop a user-centered glossary through site visits and feedback from a monitoring group.

From December of last year through January of this year, researchers visited the Army Training Center and the Army's 17th Division, among other locations, observing soldiers' daily routines from wake-up to lights-out and gathering material through interviews and recorded conversations. A monitoring group made up of three advisory members with experience managing and teaching Korean-language learners, along with 10 soldiers who had lived abroad for extended periods (two each from five language groups), handled everything from selecting terms to verifying translations.

The International Association for Korean Language Education (IAKLE) also actively participated in planning and advising to help create a genuinely useful glossary. Of the 2,034 basic terms gathered in the field, 562 were ultimately selected following review by the advisory panel.

The glossary is organized into two sections reflecting the service cycle: a "Training Center" section for the initial recruit training phase, and a "Unit Assignment" section for after soldiers are assigned to their units. The training center section includes terms such as formation march, parade ground, chemical/biological/radiological training, and zeroing (rifle sighting). The unit assignment section includes terms such as command sergeant major, initial interview, ammunition depot, and gate checkpoint. An appendix includes barracks announcement phrases, military ranks, and leave guidance.

These terms were translated into five languages — English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish, and Japanese — alongside easy-to-understand Korean definitions written at the level of the National Institute of Korean Language's basic dictionary. Of these, 231 terms were also paired with webtoon-style illustrations to aid intuitive understanding.

Corporal Seo Young-jun, who participated in the monitoring group and lived in China for 14 years, said, "Since I lived abroad for a long time and found military terms unfamiliar myself, it was meaningful to help create a glossary that will make it easier for my juniors to understand," adding that he believes it will greatly help new recruits adjust to service after being assigned to their units.

Park Shin-young, an official in charge of military culture innovation at the Ministry of National Defense, said, "We expect this glossary to help ease the sense of alienation and discomfort that service members struggling with Korean may feel during their service," adding, "We will continue providing tailored, multifaceted support and improving the barracks environment so that not a single service member faces difficulty adjusting due to a language barrier."

                                                                                                           Lee Han-sol