The South Korean army plans to cut number of troops as the country faces a demographic cliff in the coming years.<br />Instead, it plans to boost defense capabilities with the early deployment of military tech and next-generation weapons.<br />Kim Ji-yeon reports.<br />Saddled with a chronically-low birthrate and an aging population,... South Korea faces a demographic cliff which is forecast to also affect the country's armed forces.<br />So by 2022, the South Korean Army says it plans to cut the number of troops by 100-thousand to 365-thousand.<br />This was announced in its report submitted Friday to parliament's audit of the government, and it's part of efforts to promote its Defense 2-point-oh scheme.<br />There was a cut this year of 20-thousand troops.<br />The Army said reforms have been carried out already in more than 29 percent of all units... with the rest of them to be done by 2025.<br />And to make up for the loss in troops, it plans to beef up its tech-based capabilities... including the early deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles... as well as next-generation weapons that use lasers and artificial intelligence.<br />To better prepare for warfare involving drones, it plans to develop laser-based anti-aircraft systems by 2023 that could cut off small drones at close range.<br />In 2017, the number of men in their 20s in South Korea was 350-thousand, but by 2022, that number is expected to drop to between 220-thousand and 250-thousand as the country's decades-long low birthrate starts to bite.<br />At the current rate, the pool of military-eligible men is expected to shrink by 20 to 30-thousand every year from 2023.<br />Kim Ji-yeon, Arirang News.<br />
