“unkind medical staff,” and “long waiting hours for reservations and treatment” as major factors for dissatisfaction. Compared to civilian hospitals, the military medical system chronically lacks skilled medical personnel. Short-term medical doctors with little clinical experience are in charge of most of the treatment at the military medical institutions,416) and the Ministry of National Defense’s plan to increase the hiring of long-term medical doctors and professional contract doctors is also difficult due to the low pay (68.0%) as compared to civilian doctors. In addition, the lack of essential medical equipment is also a serious problem. Even the division-level medical corps (including the navy fleet-level medical corps and the air force medical squadron), that perform the role of hospitals under the ‘Medical Service Act,’ do not have precise examination equipment, such as CT or MRI. Military hospitals and the Armed Forces Capital Hospital, which perform the roles of general hospitals or tertiary general hospitals under the “Medical Service Act,” respectively, lack medical equipment compared to civilian hospitals. In fact, in 2020, there was a case in which the diagnosis of ‘nephrotic hemorrhagic fever’ (Hantavirus) was delayed because the only blood test device in the unit broke while a deceased soldier was hospitalized in the division medical unit. C) The Need to Protect the Soldiers’ Access to Medical Care by Strengthening the Promotion of Using Civilian Hospitals Considering the relevant laws, such as the Constitution, the ‘Framework Act on Military Status and Service,’ and the ‘Military Health and Medical Services Act,’ the soldiers have the right to receive optimal health care services necessary to protect and promote their health. Moreover, the state has an obligation to prepare various legal and institutional means for the soldiers to lead a healthy military life, and to secure necessary financial resources. The quality of medical services provided to the soldiers in performing their duties in national defense should be at least equal to or better than that of the universal medical services for the general public. 416) As of the end of 2022, 2,261 out of a total of 2,449 are short-term service doctors, and only six cases of short-term military doctors applying for long-term service during the past five years. The number of professional contract doctors in the military is only 35 (32 at the Armed Forces Capital Hospital and 3 at Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital), which is about a third of the plan announced in 2008. 178