The military plans to conduct HIV tests on conscripts in their physical checkups before joining the military beginning next year, the Military Manpower Administration (MMA) announced on Tuesday (Dec. 19).

The plan is part of the agency's revised schemes in recruiting conscripts.

Before fully implementing the plan, the MMA will run a pilot program regarding the test for conscripts living in Seoul next year, an MMA spokesman said.

Currently, a conscript who submits a certificate indicating HIV infection from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is exempted from mandatory military service.

“The number of those infected with the HIV is on the rise, which is a serious social problem to be tackled,” Gwak Yu-seok of the MMA's policy planning bureau said in a phone interview with The Korea Times. “So we've decided to implement the HIV checkup plan to prevent the possible spread of the disease among soldiers.”

In 2003 and 2004, 12 conscripts submitted documents proving their infection with the HIV or AIDS, respectively, and the number increased to 24 last year, said Gwak.

“Based on the results of the one-year pilot test, we will decide whether the HIV checkup program is needed to be adopted nationwide or not,” he added.

The MMA said orphans and naturalized ethnic Koreans will be allowed to serve in the military from next year under the MMA's new recruitment program. They had been banned from entering the military.

Other revised plans include allowing men under 25 to take overseas trips without permission from the MMA. The current system requires men between 18 and 35 to get permission from the chief of the MMA.

South Korea maintains a compulsory conscription system under which all able-bodied men over 20 must serve in the military for 24-27 months. The country keeps a 690,000-strong armed force against North Korea's 1.1-million.